LIBRARY 

UNiVE-S'.TY  OF 

CALIFORNIA 

SAN  OieSO 


1822  01069   1012 


loo 


W 


LIFE  OF  ALFRED  NEWTON,  M.A.,  F.R.S. 

PROFESSOR    OF    ZOOLOGY    AND    COMPARATIVE    ANATOMY 
IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF   CAMBRIDGE,    1866-1907 


Frontispiece. 


ALFRED   NEWTON,   M.A.,    F.R.S. 


LIFE    OF 
ALFRED     NEWTON 

PROFESSOR  OF  COMPARATIVE  ANATOMY 
CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY,   1866-1907 

BY   A.   F.   R.   WOLLASTON 

WITH   A   PREFACE    BY   SIR   ARCHIBALD  GEIKIE,   O.M. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW   YORK 

E.   P.  BUTTON   AND    COMPANY 
1921 


NOTE 

WHEN  in  the  spring  of  1909  his  literary  executors  paid 
me  the  compliment  of  asking  me  to  write  a  "Life" 
of  Professor  Newton,  I  accepted  the  invitation  with 
enthusiasm  tempered  by  diffidence,  little  guessing  the 
delays  to  which  it  would  be  subjected,  and  little  know- 
ing the  difficulties  of  the  task.  It  became  very  soon 
apparent  that  the  interests  of  so  sedentary  a  life  as  that 
of  Newton  must  be  looked  for  principally  in  his  letters. 
This  led  to  the  startling  discovery  that  he  had  kept 
almost  every  letter  he  received  during  a  period  of  more 
than  fifty  years,  and  to  the  further  fact  that  a  great 
many  of  his  correspondents  had  preserved  almost  every 
letter  that  he  had  written  to  them.  Searching  through 
these  thousands  of  letters  was  a  work  of  several  months  ; 
and  after  that  I  was  unavoidably  occupied  in  New 
Guinea  for  a  term  of  years.  During  these  absences  from 
England — and  later  during  the  war — I  made  attempts 
to  induce  others  to  complete  the  "  Life,"  but  without 
success. 

So  it  was  not  until  1920  that  I  was  able  to  return 
to  it.  In  the  meantime  the  business  of  producing 
books,  like  all  other  things,  has  suffered  a  change,  and 
the  ample  biographies  of  the  spacious  days  before  1914 
are  no  longer  possible.  Thus  it  happens  that  this 
volume  has  been  reduced  by  nearly  a  half  of  its  bulk, 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  casual  reader,  if  such 


vi  NOTE 

there  be,  but,  I  fear,  at  the  cost  of  some  disappoint- 
ment to  others  who  had  hoped  to  see  their  interesting 
correspondence  with  Newton  included  in  the  book.  In 
cutting  down  I  have  tried  to  act  on  the  principle  of 
preserving  his  best  and  most  characteristic  letters  on 
whatever  subject,  rather  than  of  including  technically 
important  matters,  which  are  elsewhere  accessible  to 
naturalists. 

The  help  that  I  have  received  from  Newton's  friends 
and  from  members  of  his  family  has,  I  hope,  been  in 
every  case  gratefully  acknowledged.  There  are  two  — 
Mr.  James  E.  Harvie-Brown  and  Lord  Walsingham — 
whose  names  must  be  recorded  here :  both  of  them 
have  followed  their  old  friend,  but  not  before  they  had 
given  me  incalculable  help  in  my  attempt  to  preserve 
his  memory. 

A.  F.  R.  W. 

April,  1921. 


PREFACE 

THE  subject  of  this  volume,  a  man  of  strongly-marked 
personality,  was  for  more  than  half  a  century  a  leader 
among  the  naturalists  of  this  country,  a  distinguished 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  a  prolific 
and  accomplished  writer,  and  a  charming  companion, 
whose  geniality,  humour,  and  innocent  little  whimsi- 
calities, drew  around  him  a  wide  circle  of  friends.  All 
who  knew  Alfred  Newton  will  be  glad  that  Mr. 
Wollaston,  one  of  his  pupils,  should  have  put  together 
this  appreciative  memoir.  In  so  doing  he  has  been 
fortunate  in  having  had  access  to  so  large  a  number 
of  the  Professor's  letters  and  journals  as  to  give  the 
chapters  not  a  little  of  the  character  of  an  auto- 
biography. 

We  see  the  future  man  of  science  entering  Magdalene 
College,  Cambridge,  in  1848,  as  an  undergraduate  of 
nineteen.  Six  years  later  his  youthful  reputation 
gained  for  him,  as  the  son  of  a  Norfolk  squire,  election 
to  the  Norfolk  Travelling  Scholarship,  with  the  aid 
of  which  he  was  enabled  to  make  ornithological  re- 
searches in  Lapland  and  Iceland,  and  to  visit  the 
United  States  and  the  West  Indies.  These  early 
journeys  confirmed  his  bent  towards  the  study  of 
birds,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fame  as  one 
of  the  most  eminent  ornithologists  of  his  day.  He 
used  to  regret  in  later  life  that  he  had  not  travelled 

vii 


viii  PEEFACE 

more.  He  was  indeed  a  bom  naturalist,  and  but  for 
the  lameness,  which  came  from  an  accident  in  early 
boyhood,  he  would  doubtless  have  become  a  dauntless 
pioneer  in  zoological  regions  as  yet  unexplored.  Few 
bird-lovers  could  equal  him  in  the  quickness  and  sure- 
ness  of  eye  which,  even  at  a  considerable  distance, 
enabled  him  to  distinguish  a  bird  on  the  wing.  The 
lameness,  much  increased  by  an  accident  in  later  years, 
greatly  restricted  the  exploratory  work  which  he  might 
have  achieved.  It  was  most  heroically  borne  by  him, 
and  was  combated  with  two  walking-sticks.  He  was 
too  independent,  however,  to  accept  assistance  if  he 
could  possibly  do  without  it.  In  the  yachting  cruises 
which  for  some  years  I  enjoyed  in  his  company  along 
the  western  coasts  of  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  the  Faroe 
Isles,  he  generally  would  land  at  every  place  of  interest, 
even  when  a  strong  swell  made  it  difficult  to  get  into 
the  boat.  One  could  not  but  admire  the  tact  with 
which  he  avoided  the  proffered  hands  of  the  crew, 
and  his  dexterity  in  the  manipulation  of  his  two  sticks. 
His  perfect  coolness  was  remarkable  on  such  occasions. 
He  used  to  tell  how  once  at  Spitzbergen  the  dinghy 
slipped  away  before  he  had  hold  of  the  ship's  ladder 
and  he  plumped  into  the  water,  but  kept  his  pipe  in 
his  mouth,  and  so,  as  he  said,  lost  nothing  ! 

It  was  about  1863  that  he  made  Cambridge  his 
permanent  home.  In  1866  he  was  elected  Professor 
of  Zoology  and  Comparative  Anatomy  in  the  Uni- 
versity. He  then  began  at  once  with  much  ardour 
to  improve  the  Zoological  Museum,  which  in  his  hands 
became  in  the  course  of  years  one  of  the  most  important 
in  the  country.  His  kindly  nature  led  him  to  take 
much  interest  in  the  undergraduates  who  showed  a 
love  of  natural  history.  His  "Sunday  evenings"  at 
Magdalene,  when  he  received  his  students,  academical 


PEEFACE  ix 

friends,  and  any  notable  men  of  science  who  might 
be  visiting  Cambridge,  were  highly  popular.  Mr. 
Wollaston  testifies  to  their  value  from  the  under- 
graduate point  of  view. 

Professor  Newton  was  an  indefatigable  worker, 
never  without  some  piece  of  scientific  literature  on 
hand,  and  often  more  than  one.  He  was  a  keen  critic 
of  others,  and  not  less  of  himself.  He  would  write 
and  re-write  his  compositions  several  times  before  they 
came  up  to  his  standard  of  arrangement  and  style. 
Above  all  he  strove  to  secure  accuracy  in  his  own 
statements,  and  in  his  references  and  quotations.  The 
pains  taken  by  him  with  this  object  sometimes  led  to 
serious  delays  in  the  completion  of  his  manuscript, 
which  brought  strong  protests  from  the  publishers, 
who  had  no  sympathy  with  what  they  regarded  as 
meticulous  labour.  If  their  complaints  did  not  alter 
his  habit,  they  at  least  filled  him  with  indignation 
against  the  whole  publishing  tribe. 

Newton  was  a  strong  Conservative,  instinctively 
opposed  to  the  abrogation  of  any  ancient  usage.  This 
resolute  stand  on  the  antiquas  vias  led  him  occasionally 
into  whimsical  positions,  some  of  which  are  alluded  to 
in  the  following  chapters.  Yet  it  is  nevertheless  true 
that  he  was  one  of  the  earliest  naturalists  in  this 
country  to  accept  Darwin's  explanation  of  the  origin  of 
species.  Not  only  did  he  receive  with  joy  and  admira- 
tion this  momentous  revolution  in  scientific  thought, 
he  actually  made  some  effort  to  induce  his  brother 
naturalists  to  do  likewise,  but  without  success. 

The  reader  of  the  volume  may,  in  some  measure, 
appreciate  the  personal  charm  which  endeared  the 
Professor  to  those  around  him.  His  perennial  bonhomie, 
his  youthful  enthusiasms  maintained  up  to  the  last,  his 
inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote  and  reminiscence,  his 


x  PREFACE 

unfailing  good  humour,  his  love  of  work,  and  his  gener- 
ous co-operation  in  the  doings  of  every  fellow-worker 
who  needed  his  help,  together  with  the  amusing  pre- 
dicaments in  which  his  conversation  sometimes  placed 
him,  combined  to  make  a  rare  and  delightful  person- 
ality, and  underneath  it  all  lay  the  solid  and  lasting 
service  rendered  by  him  to  the  branch  of  science  to 
which  he  devoted  his  life. 

ARCHIBALD   GEIKIE. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

CHILDHOOD   AND    SCHOOL 

William  Newton— His  sons— Birth  of  Alfred  at  Geneva— Elveden 
Hall — Sport  at  Elveden — Accident  in  childhood — Affection  for 
his  brother  Edward — Early  interest  in  Natural  History — School 
— First  visit  to  Cambridge — Letters  from  school — Dogs  and 
pets — Enters  at  Cambridge 1 

CHAPTEB  II 

EARLY   INTEREST  IN   NATURAL   HISTORY 

Magdalene — Takes  degree — Norfolk  Travelling  Fellowship — Other 
naturalists — John  Wolley — Wolley's  experiences  in  Lapland — 
Sales  of  eggs — Newton  goes  to  Lapland — Interest  in  northern 
faunas — Musk  Ox— Breeding-place  of  Knot — Alfred  Newton 
Glacier — Visit  to  W.  Indies— Notes  on  Humming-birds— Visit 
to  U.S.A.— J.H.  Gurney 11 

CHAPTEB  III 

VISIT   TO   ICELAND 

Visit  to  Iceland— Lands  in  Faroe— The  Meal  Sack— Hospitality  at 
Reykjavik — Learning  Icelandic — Journey  through  Iceland — 
Streams  of  lava — Reykjanes — Submarine  eruption — Habits  of 
Great  Auk— Failure  of  expedition 27 

CHAPTEB  IV 

THE   GREAT   AUK 

Extinction  of  Great  Auk— History  of  the  bird— Buying  a  Great 
Auk's  egg — Its  obscure  history — Discovery  of  ten  Great  Auks' 
eggs — Gare-fowl  book — Visit  to  Great  Auk's  breeding-places — 
Dodo  and  other  extinct  birds — Great  Bustard — Acclimatisation 

and  extermination "    • .        ,        .        .40 

xi 


Xll 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   IBIS 


Origin  of  B.O.U.-Founders-Journal-Motto-Editorship  of  Ibis- 
Canon  Tristram-Wolley's  collections-"  Ootheca  Wolleyana 
—Memoir  of  John  Wolley 


CHAPTER  VI 

VISIT   TO   SPITZBERGEN 

Shooting  in  Denmark-Visit  to  Germany— Decides  not  to  take 
holy  orders— Prince  Dhuleep  Singh  and  Elveden— Visit  to 
Spitzbergen— Voyage  from  Leith— Birds  in  Ice  Sound— Snow 
Buntings  —  Eiders  — Beindeer  —  Nordenskj  old  —  Seals  —  Upset 
from  boat— Fogs  and  calms— Bear  Island  and  Hammerfest  .  73 


CHAPTER  VII 

DR.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

(Written  by  the  Master  of  Christ's) 

Cambridge  in  the  'forties— Railway  station— Magdalene  in  1849 
—  Professor  Adami  —  Francis  Balf our  — Adam  Sedgwick  — 
William  Bateson— Newton's  lectures— Hospitality— Character  93 

CHAPTER  VIII 

EARLY   DAYS   OF  DARWINISM 

Early  days  of  Darwinism — Newton's  acceptance  of  theory — British 
Association  at  Oxford  in  1860— Huxley  and  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford— Dr.  Temple — Tristram's  defection — Manchester  meet- 
ing— Letter  from  Darwin — Zoological  Record — Mendelism — 
Programme  for  Section  D — Sclater  and  Louis  Napoleon — Red 
Lions— Professorship  of  Zoology — Charles  Kingsley  .  .  .110 


CHAPTER  IX 

PROTECTION   OF   BIRDS 

Zoological  aspect  of  Game  Laws— Destruction  of  Sea-fowl — Close- 
time  Committee — Bird  Protection  Bills  and  Acts — Letters  to 
Lord  Walsingham — Skuas— Protection  of  eggs— Protection  of 
areas— Society  for  the  Protection  of  Birds— Egg-collecting  .  136 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  X 

MIGRATION   AND   DISTRIBUTION 

PAGE 

Migration  of  birds— Letter  of  Scandinavian  Poet— Newton's  reply 
— Theories  of  migration — Torpidity  and  other  superstitions — 
Gatke —  Mr.  Eagle-Clarke's  observations  at  lighthouses  — 
Destruction  of  life — History  of  migration— Aristotle  and 
Pliny — Geographical  distribution — Ptarmigan — Origin  of  life — 
Holarctic  Region— A,  B.  Wallace— Address  at  Manchester  .  160 

CHAPTEB  XI 

GILBERT   WHITE   AND   OTHERS 

Gilbert  White— Reviews  of  "  Selborne  "—Coleridge's  Marginalia- 
Gilbert  White's  wig—"  Selborne  "  a  classic— Mr.  Holt-White's 
"Life  " — "  Molly  "  letters — Mulso's letters — Thomas  Bewick — 
— Willughby— Ray— Gould— F.  Buckland— T.  Edwards— R. 
Jefferies— H.  Seebohm  ........  186 

CHAPTEB   XII 

METHODS  OF  WORK 

Accuracy — Care  in  identification — The  Scaup  Duck — Bustard — 
Great  Black  Woodpecker — Vipers  swallowing  young — Slow- 
ness in  work — Yarrell's  "  British  Birds  " — Classification— 
Linnsean  system — Nomenclature — Subspecies  and  trinomials  .  207 

CHAPTEB  XIII 

LANGUAGES   AND   WORDS 

Correspondence  with  Professor  Skeat — De  Avosetta — Capercaillie — 

Mistletoe  Thrush— Decoy- Okapi— No  Snakes  in  Iceland        .    220 


CHAPTEB  XIV 

WRITING    AND    CONSERVATISM 

Letter-writing— B.  M.  Cats.— Dedications— Zoological  anecdote- 
Professor  Babington  and  suet  puddings — "  Dictionary  of  Birds  " 
— Publishers — Revisions — Style — Reviewers  —  The  Cuckow — 
Philosophy — Politics  and  College  politics — Mr.  A.  C.  Benson's 
reminiscences — Bores— Interest  in  young  naturalists  .  .  234 


xiv  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTEE  XV 

WORK  AT   CAMBRIDGE 

PAGE 

Lectures— Zoological  training— Invertebrata— Jack  Perkins  and  the 
Duke  of  Cambridge  —  Museum— Bos  primigenius  —  Letters 
from  Charles  Kingsley— Special  Board— Greek  play—"  Birds  " 
of  Aristophanes— Hospitality  in  College— The  Old  Lodge— 
Sunday  evenings— Dr.  Guillemard's  recollections  .  .  .  250 

CHAPTEE  XVI 

LATER  YEARS 

Cornish  Choughs— Heligoland  and  accident — Sir  Archibald  Geikie's 
account  of  cruises — St.  Kilda  and  Orkneys — The  song  of  the 
Shearwater — Death  of  Sir  Edward  Newton — The  Professor  in 
old  age— Portraits— Honours— Last  days — Death  .  .  .  275 

OHAPTEE   XVII 
MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS  .    293 


APPENDIX 
LIST  OF  PUBLISHED  PAPERS 316 

INDEX  .    OQK 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PROFESSOR  ALFKBD  NBWTON Frontispiece 

SIR  EDWARD  NEWTON,  K.C.M.G Facing  page      62 

THIRD  BARON  LILFORD ,        „        120 

CANON  H.  B.  TRISTRAM,  F.E.S „        „        120 

THE  PROFESSOR.    From  a  sketch  by  C.  M.  Newton     .        ,,        „        258 


LIFE  OF  ALFRED  NEWTON 


CHAPTER  I 

CHILDHOOD  AND  SCHOOL 

IP  the  boundary  of  the  counties  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk 
had  not  taken  a  sudden  bend  to  the  south  near  Thetford, 
so  as  almost  to  include  the  parish  of  Elveden,  it  is 
probable  that  the  life  of  Alfred  Newton,  though  it  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  the  life  of  a  man  of  distinction, 
would  not  have  been  the  life  of  a  naturalist.  Fortunately 
for  lovers  of  Natural  History  in  general  and  of  Orni- 
thology in  particular,  his  father,  as  well  as  owning  Elveden 
Hall  in  Suffolk,  possessed  also  a  small  property  on  the 
other  side  of  the  boundary  and  was  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace  for  the  county  of  Norfolk,  so  that  at  a  critical 
point  of  his  career  Newton  was  able  to  establish  his 
claim  to  be  the  "  son  of  a  Norfolk  gentleman." 

William  Newton,  at  one  time  M.P.  for  Ipswich,  was 
the  son  of  a  planter,  Samuel  Newton  of  St.  Kitts,  in  the 
West  Indies,  in  the  golden  days  of  sugar,  who  lived  in  the 
island  of  St.  Croix  until  he  bought  the  Elveden  estate  in 
1810  from  the  fourth  Earl  of  Albemarle.  He  married 
(1811)  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard  Slater  Milnes,  M.P. 
for  York,  and  aunt  of  Richard  Monckton  Milnes,  first 
Baron  Houghton,  by  whom  he  had  six  sons  and  four 
daughters.  The  eldest  son,  William  Samuel,  was  one  of 
the  survivors  of  the  Coldstream  Guards  at  Inkerman, 
and  retired  with  the  rank  of  General.  The  second  son, 
Robert  Milnes,  became  Recorder  of  Cambridge  and  a 
Metropolitan  Police  Magistrate.  Horace  Parker  was, 

B 


2  CHILDHOOD  AND  SCHOOL 

first  of  his  year  at  the  R.M.A.,  Woolwich  ;  he  served  with 
the  Royal  Artillery  in  the  Crimea  and  retired  with  the 
rank  of  Major-General.  The  youngest  son,  Edward, 
K.C.M.G.  (1832-97),  was  at  one  time  Colonial  Secretary 
of  Mauritius  and  subsequently  Colonial  Secretary  and 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Jamaica. 

Alfred  was  the  fifth  son  of  William  Newton  of 
Elveden.  In  1828  Mr.  Newton  with  his  wife,  seven 
children  and  a  suitable  retinue  of  nurses  and  couriers, 
drove  in  the  leisurely  fashion  of  those  days  from  Elveden 
to  Pisa  in  the  family  chariot.  On  their  way  back  through 
Switzerland  in  the  following  year  the  family  halted  for 
a  time  at  Geneva,  where  Alfred  was  born  on  June  11, 
1829,  at  a  house,  "  Les  Delices,"  *  which  was  at  that 
time  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  town,  but  has  now 
become  surrounded  by  the  growing  suburbs  of  Geneva. 
In  the  next  year  they  returned  to  Elveden,  which 
continued  to  be  the  family  home  until  after  the  death  of 
Mr.  Newton  more  than  thirty  years  later. 

The  Elveden  Hall  of  those  days  was  like  many  other 
East  Anglian  country  houses,  a  plain  Georgian  mansion 
of  brick,  built  about  1770  by  Admiral  Augustus  Keppel, 
first  and  last  Viscount  Keppel  of  Elveden,  upon  whose 
death,  in  1786,  it  passed  to  his  nephew,  the  Earl  of 
Albemarle.  It  is  probable  that  there  had  never  been  an 
earlier  house  at  Elveden,  although  the  district  had  been 
renowned  for  centuries  as  one  of  the  finest  sporting 
countries  in  England.  King  James  I.  after  visiting 
Newmarket  in  1605,  proceeded  to  Thetford,  where  he 
stayed  for  some  time  and  was  greatly  struck  by  the 

*  In  Morley's  "  Voltaire  "  (chap,  iv.)  it  is  stated  that  Voltaire  "  made  him- 
self a  hermitage  for  the  summer,  called  the  Delices,  a  short  distance  from 
the  spot  where  the  Arve  falls  into  the  Rhone."  This  is  without  doubt  the 
house  in  which  Alfred  Newton  was  born.  One  of  his  nephews  writes : 
"  The  explanation  why  none  of  us  should  ever  have  heard  about  this  before 
is  that  our  elders  considered  Voltaire  a  horrible  person  whose  name  should 
never  be  mentioned  by  respectable  people." 


SHOOTING   AT  ELVBDEN  3 

quantities  of  game  he  saw  there.  He  was  with  difficulty 
dissuaded  from  enforcing  a  dormant  proclamation, 
which  would  have  had  the  result  of  making  the  whole 
country  a  royal  game  preserve,  but  contented  himself 
by  claiming  all  the  sporting  rights  over  the  country 
within  twelve  miles  of  Thetford  and  appointing  a  royal 
gamekeeper  at  a  salary  of  two  shillings  a  day.  The 
same  course  was  followed  by  his  sport-loving  successors, 
Charles  I.  and  Charles  II. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  nineteenth  century,  before 
the  breech-loading  gun  had  been  invented,  and  when 
pheasant-rearing  was  yet  in  its  infancy,  the  bags  obtained 
at  Elveden  were  not  to  be  compared  with  the  "  records  " 
of  later  years,  but  the  sport  there  must  have  been  as 
good  as  at  any  place  in  the  kingdom. 

A  bag  which  I  believe  had  never  been  exceeded  was 
made  at  Elveden  in  my  father's  time,  331  or  332  pheasants 
in  one  day,  of  which  over  300  were  cock  birds,  and  not 
one  of  them  reared  by  hand.  This  was  in  the  "  twenties," 
before  I  was  born. 

It  seems,  too,  that  in  those  times  game  was  less  care- 
fully preserved  and  the  boundaries  of  neighbouring 
estates  were  not  so  strictly  marked  as  is  the  case  now- 
adays. 

I  have  heard  my  father  say  that  when  he  first  went 
to  Elveden,  it  was  a  common  thing  for  a  "  gentleman  " 
going  from  one  country  house  to  another  to  "  shoot  his 
way  over,"  sending  his  servant  and  luggage  by  road,  and 
that  in  particular  in  the  autumn  race  meetings  at 
Newmarket  guests  invited  thence  to  stay  at  Euston 
made  a  habit  of  doing  this,  and  he  once  found  some 
distinguished  persons  pursuing  a  covey  of  Partridges  on 
the  Great  Heath  at  Elveden.  If  anybody  but  a  "  gentle- 
man "  had  tried  this  on  he  would  have  found  the  custom 
very  different.  It  was  also  customary  for  officers  in  the 


4  CHILDHOOD  AND  SCHOOL 

army,  when  changing  quarters,  to  rove  as  they  passed  in 
search  of  game,  and  nobody  said  anything  to  them. 
You  will  find  this  mentioned  in  Col.  Hawker's  diary,  but 
he,  not  being  a  gentleman,  tried  the  same  thing  on  when 
he  was  in  quarters  and  there  he  found  himself  wrong. 

Although,  judged  by  modern  standards,  the  quantity 
of  pheasants  and  partridges  was  not  very  great,  there 
was  ample  compensation,  to  a  naturalist,  in  the  existence 
of  several  rare  birds  which  still  survived  in  the  Elveden 
district.  It  is  true  that  the  Great  Bustard  was  on  the 
verge  of  extinction — the  last  of  the  native  stock  was 
killed  in  1838— but  Montagu's  Harriers  were  fairly 
common  in  the  fens  near  Feltwell,  Buzzards  still  nested 
in  some  of  the  big  woods,  and  Ravens  bred  every  year  at 
Elveden,  where  they  survived  until  1870.  The  vast 
warrens  of  the  "  Breck,"  the  woods  and  water-meadows 
of  the  valley  of  the  Little  Ouse,  and  the  neighbouring 
Fenland  between  them  made  an  ideal  training  ground 
for  a  naturalist. 

The  only  detail  that  is  known  of  Alfred  Newton's 
childhood  is  an  incident  which  affected  profoundly  the 
whole  of  his  after  life.  When  he  was  not  more  than  five 
or  six  years  old,  he  was  playing  some  riotous  game  with 
one  of  his  brothers  in  the  library  at  Elveden  and  he  fell 
and  hurt  one  of  his  knees.  Little  importance  was 
attached  to  it  at  first,  but  serious  injury  had  been  done 
and  his  right  leg  never  grew  equally  with  the  other, 
causing  him  to  be  permanently  lame.  It  may  be  that 
this  accident  prevented  him  from  following  his  brothers' 
example  and  becoming  a  soldier,  a  career  in  which  it  may 
safely  be  said  that  he  would  have  won  certain  distinction. 
But  one  very  definite  result  which  followed  from  his 
lameness  was  the  encouragement  it  gave  him  in  his 
earliest  years  to  acquire  habits  of  observation  and 
contemplation.  As  time  went  on  and  he  was  debarred 


GUESTS  AT  ELVEDEN  5 

to  a  great  extent  from  the  more  active  pursuits  of  his 
elder  brothers,  he  came  to  rely  more  for  companionship 
upon  his  younger  brother,  Edward.  The  affection — it 
might  almost  be  called  devotion — that  Alfred  and  Edward 
had  for  each  other  was  much  more  than  is  commonly 
seen  between  brothers,  and  it  lasted  unchanged  until  the 
death  of  the  younger  brother  ten  years  before  that  of  the 
elder.  Edward's  tastes  were  in  many  ways  the  same  as 
those  of  Alfred,  but  though  he  was  strong  and  active,  he 
would  do  nothing  that  Alfred  could  not  do,  and  it  is  said 
that  as  a  child  he  wished  that  he  might  be  lame  too,  so 
that  they  might,  so  to  speak,  "  start  fair."  The  two 
boys  did  everything  together  and  were  almost  insepa- 
able  ;  the  collection  of  birds  and  eggs  was  "  ours,"  then- 
dogs  were  the  joint  property  of  both,  and  their  records 
of  observations  were  kept  in  notebooks  labelled  "  A.  and 
E.  N." 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  he  was  debarred  by 
his  lameness  from  out-of-door  amusements  :  he  rode, 
and  as  a  shot  he  was  not  much  inferior  to  his  brother 
Edward,  who  became  afterwards  one  of  the  finest  shots 
in  England.  Mr.  Newton  used  to  entertain  many  of  his 
neighbours  during  the  shooting  season — the  Newcomes 
from  Feltwell,  Lord  March,  George  Hanbury,  the 
Waddingtons  from  Cavenham,  were  frequent  guests  at 
Elveden.  Another  visitor  was  a  "  Mr.  Bainbridge,  a 
friend  of  my  father's,  who  used  to  come  and  stay  and 
on  one  occasion  brought  a  bear  pie  ;  we  were  very  much 
annoyed  because  he  did  not  bring  the  skull."  In  the 
summer  the  brothers  were  very  much  occupied  with 
bird's-nesting,  and  they  began  to  form  their  collection  of 
eggs  about  1840.  About  the  same  time,  too,  they  began 
to  keep  the  careful  records  of  the  migration  of  birds, 
which  were  continued,  with  only  a  few  intervals,  for 
twenty  years.  One  of  their  "  dodges  "  was  to  fill  a 


6  CHILDHOOD  AND  SCHOOL 

pocket  with  gun-wads  and  as  they  walked  about  the 
woods  and  warrens  at  Elveden  to  transfer  to  another 
pocket  one  wad  for  each  species  of  bird  seen.  In  the 
evening  they  recorded  their  observations  in  an  elaborate 
register,*  and  in  this  way  they  began  to  have  some 
knowledge  of  the  internal  and  local  movements  of  birds 
as  well  as  of  the  more  conspicuous  migrations  of  spring 
and  autumn.  From  the  keeping  of  birds  in  cages,  which 
was  naturally  a  feature  of  this  period  in  their  careers, 
they  advanced  to  the  more  difficult  business  of  keeping 
wild-fowl.  The  meres  of  Wretham  and  Stanford  supplied 
them  with  several  species  of  wild  duck,  with  which  they 
made  experiments  in  hybridisation.  More  fortunate 
than  the  ducks,  which  often  came  to  untimely  ends,  was 
a  swan  :  "for  the  last  six  years  I  have  had  a  Hooper,  a 
most  engaging  bird  —  at  times  almost  too  familiar,  for  he 
invades  the  house,  where  his  company  is  not  always 
most  agreeable." 

In  1844  Alfred  went  to  Mr.  Walker's  school  at 
Stetchworth,  near  Newmarket,  and  from  this  time  dates 
his  life-long  correspondence  with  Edward.  When  they 
were  in  England  the  two  brothers  wrote  to  each  other 
every  day,  and  by  every  mail  when  they  were  abroad  ; 
and  each  one  kept  carefully  all  the  letters  of  the  other. 
In  early  days  they  addressed  each  other  by  their 
pet-names,  "  Tafi  "  and  "  Tedge,"  but  these  were 
considered  childish  by  their  elders,  and  a  more  formal 
epistle  was  marked  "  for  the  family,"  while  their  own 
particular  business  was  "  not  to  be  shown."  School  at 
Mr.  Walker's  was  not  very  arduous,  and  holidays,  which 
depended  on  the  getting  of  so  many  marks,  seem  to  have 
been  frequent.  Alfred  often  drove  over  to  Elveden,  a 
distance  of  about  nineteen  miles,  for  Sunday,  and  one 


.1  *  A  SP?01™611  page  of  this  register  was  published  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  Norfolk  and  Norwich  Nat.  Hist.  Soc.,  1871,  vol.  i. 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  CAMBRIDGE  7 

day   in   February,  1845,  he   went  with  his   father  to 
Cambridge.    He  wrote  from  Stetchworth  on  March  1  : — 

MY  DEAREST  TEDGE, 

I  must  give  you  a  long  letter  concerning  my 
doings  at  Cambridge.  I  spent  my  whole  time,  3j  hours, 
in  the  Museum  of  the  Phil.  Soc.*  I  took  one  of  my  old 
notebooks  and  a  pencil  and  sketched  the  most  striking 
of  the  birds,  writing  down  by  the  side  the  colours,  etc. 
The  most  beautiful  British  bird  was  the  Indian  Bee-eater, 
of  which  I  send  you  a  coloured  drawing.  I  also  send  you 
a  drawing  of  the  Great  Bustard,  of  which  they  have  4 
specimens,  2  m.  and  2  f .  ;  it  is  the  most  magnificent  bird 
I  ever  saw  except  the  Capercaillie,  the  colours  of  which 
were  too  difficult  for  me  to  draw.  They  have  three 
specimens  of  the  Otis  tetrax,  a  very  pretty  bird.  There  is 
a  magnificent  Golden  Eagle.  I  am  now  quite  certain 
that  our  bird  is  the  Linota  montium  and  not  Linota 
cannabina.  Our  Redpoll  is  also  a  (young)  male  bird  and, 
of  course,  it  retains  its  immature  plumage.  The  birds 
are,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  old  specimens,  very  well 
stuffed.  A  word  now  about  the  eggs,  which  are  not 
much,  the  Falco  peregrinus  and  Otis  tarda  being  the  lions  ; 
I  was  much  disappointed  with  that  part  of  the  Museum. 
I  was  surprised  at  not  seeing  a  specimen  of  the  Regulus 
ignicapellus  there,  as  Mr.  Jenyns  is  the  premier  with 
regard  to  the  Nat.  Hist,  department.  They  have  a  few 
works  on  Nat.  Hist.,  most  presented  by  their  authors. 
Audubon's  "  American  Ornithology  "  is  a  daub.  The 
"  Nat.  Hist,  of  the  Voyage  of  H.M.S.  Adventurer  and 
Beagle,"  is  a  beautiful  book.  There  is  also  a  book  by 
the  author  of  "  Taxidermy,"  on  Freshwater  Fishes, 
coloured  by  hand.  I  was  rather  disappointed  in  seeing 
the  Kittiwake  there,  for  unless  it  is  an  adult  male  in 
breeding  plumage  (which  is  snow-white)  I  don't  think 
it  is  a  very  handsome  bird.  It  is  now  quite  dark,  so 
good-bye,  dearest  Tedge. 

I  am  your  most  affectionate  brother, 

TAFF. 

*  House  in  All  Saints  Passage,  now  the  Hawks  Club. 


8  CHILDHOOD  AND  SCHOOL 

The  notebook  still  exists  and  the  drawings  that  he 
made  that  day  are  remarkable  for  their  accuracy  and  for 
the  skill  with  which  he  emphasised  the  most  characteristic 
features  of  the  birds  drawn.  He  was  always  very  fond 
of  drawing,  and  although  he  never  possessed  very  great 
skill  as  an  artist,  his  drawings,  whether  of  birds,  beasts 
or  landscapes,  were  invariably  accurate.  Many  of  his 
letters  are  full  of  drawings  and  later,  when  he  was  abroad, 
he  illustrated  the  incidents  of  his  travels  with  very 
humorous  sketches.  The  following  letter  was  illustrated 
with  an  excellent  drawing  of  a  Brambling  : — 

Stetchworth, 

Friday,  March  7,  1845. 

MY  DEAREST  TEDGE, 

I  dare  say  you  will  like  to  hear  how  my 
Brambling  *  is.  He  is  perfectly  well  and  is,  (considering 
that  he  was  only  caught  yesterday)  very  tame,  much 
more  so  than  Skelly  [a  Starling]  is  now.  He  goes  on 
picking  about  while  I  am  standing  at  the  cage.  I  have 
given  you  a  little  sketch  of  Brammy's  head,  but  I  can't 
describe  his  markings  they  are  so  beautiful.  There  were 
5  caught  (in  a  clap  net),  2  m.  3  f.  ;  the  3  unfortunate 
females  were  sent  to  Ditton  with  about  100  other  birds 
for  a  shooting  match  and  were  shot.  The  other  male 
bird  fluttered  itself  to  death  in  the  store  cage  and  was 
roasted  and  eat  before  I  knew  of  it.  They  are  called  here 
north-cocks.  The  man  who  caught  them  is  going  out 
again  to-morrow  and  so  I  trust  I  shall  be  able  to  get  some 
more.  He  caught  some  redpolls  and  reed  sparrows,  etc., 
so  I  can  probably  get  some.  His  prices  are  very  reason- 
able, 1  d.  or  $d.  for  each  bird.  The  reason  I  gave  Qd.  for 
mine  is  that  the  man's  little  girl  had  picked  it  out  of  the 
others  for  its  beauty  and  had  taken  a  great  fancy  for  it. 
I  have  not  got  a  very  secure  cage  for  him,  but  I  keep 

*  Fringilla  montifringilla — Beak  yellow,  tip  black ;  nape  snow  white, 
ear  coverta  black  with  green  reflexions ;  throat  pale  crimson-tawney,  a 
round  white  spot  in  the  middle  of  the  neck  ;  the  rest  of  the  head  mottled 
black  and  white. 


DOGS  AND   PETS  9 

him  covered  up  and  he  does  not  try  to  get  out ;  I  am 
trying  to  borrow  a  cage.  Many  thanks  for  your  letter. 
When  do  you  expect  to  get  a  siskin  ?  Thank  Car  for  her 
line,  I  must  write  to  her  in  a  day  or  two.  I  shall  get  the 
holiday  to-morrow  as  I  have  now  got  down  76  marks. 
Love  to  all  with  Willy.* 

I  am  yr.  affecte.  brother, 

TAFF. 

In  many  of  his  letters  and,  very  likely,  in  his  personal 
behaviour  to  his  brother,  Alfred  adopted  very  much  the 
attitude  of  the  elder  brother  when  they  were  boys  ;  he 
was  constantly  correcting  small  mistakes  in  Edward's 
letters  and  condemning  any  tendency  he  might  have 
towards  making  exaggerated  statements.  It  was  a 
useful  training  for  the  younger  boy,  who  learnt  early  to 
make  careful  observations  and  became  an  excellent  field- 
naturalist,  "  better  than  the  best  gamekeeper  and  as 
good  as  a  warrener,"  as  Alfred  said  of  him  in  later 
days. 

As  well  as  ponies  and  ducks  and  other  animals  they 
kept  dogs,  "  Crab  "  and  "  Wasp,"  and  often  a  family  of 
puppies.  Alfred  used  to  say  that  he  was  always  very 
"  doggy,"  but  in  after  years,  when  he  no  longer  lived  in 
the  country,  he  thought  it  was  not  kind  to  keep  one  in  a 
town.  When  "  Crab  "  died,  he  wrote  to  his  brother 
from  Stetchworth,  on  May  3,  1845  :— 

Poor  Crab,  I  can  do  nothing  but  lament  over  his 
death,  in  fact  I  can  hardly  believe  it.  Pray  save  some  of 
his  hair,  and  have  him  buried  honourably  in  the  garden 
as  near  the  poor  old  pony  as  possible.  I  am  now  so 
excessively  sorry  that  I  did  not  sketch  his  head  when  I 
was  last  at  home.  I  will  certainly  do  the  others  directly 
I  go  back.  There  is  certainly  a  fatality  attending  the 
Wasps.  How  many  puppies  are  left  ? 

*  Their  nurse,  Williamson. 


10  CHILDHOOD  AND  SCHOOL 

I  think  you  have  made  some  mistake  as  to  the  arrival 
of  the  Himndinidw  at  Elden.*  You  have  written  to  me 
that  both  Swallow  and  House  Martin  arrived  at  Elden 
on  April  4. 

May  I  be  allowed  to  say  you  have  never  before 
mentioned  on  what  day  the  Crow  nidificated,  and  there- 
fore I  don't  see  how  you  can  have  written  it  to  me 
500,000,000,003  times.  You  never  have  said  whether  you 
have  a  hooded  crow's  claw  for  me,  if  not,  do  you  know  of 
any  old  one,  as  I  have  not  got  one  ?  The  Eedbacked 
Shrike  arrived  this  morning. 

I  have  been  to  the  Dyke.  I  found  a  redbreast's  nest 
with  5  eggs,  I  took  one.  Malcolm  found  a  pheasant's, 
which  of  course  we  cribbed.  This  is  "en  particulier." 
I  went  to  try  to  get  a  Longtailed  tit's  egg  for  Reynolds 

but  alas  !  !  ! I  bought  a  female  wryneck  alive  to-day 

for  6d.  She  is  very  tame,  sits  on  my  finger  and  runs  ants 
thro'  with  her  long  tongue.  She  has  been  caught  only 
two  days.  The  boy  won't  tell  me  how  he  caught  her  I 
really  can't  write  any  more.  I  will  write  to  my  sisters 
to-morrow. 

Believe  me, 

Dearest  Edward, 

Yr.  most  affecte.  brother, 
ALFRED. 

The  letter  is  illustrated  with  an  admirable  sketch  of 
the  wryneck  sitting  on  his  finger  and  eating  ants. 

In  1846  he  went  for  a  few  months  to  a  tutor,  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Homer,  vicar  of  Everton,  near  Biggleswade 
in  Bedfordshire,  and  in  October,  1848,  he  entered  as  a 
pensioner  at  Magdalene  College,  Cambridge. 

*  Elveden  used  to  be  pronounced  Elden. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY    INTEREST  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY 

MAGDALENE  in  the  "  forties  "  was  a  small  college,  and 
very  little  is  known  of  Newton's  undergraduate  days. 
He  twice  won  the  College  prize  for  an  English  essay,*  and 
it  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  he  coxed  a  winning  four. 
The  only  other  event  that  is  known  of  this  period  is  that 
he  assisted  his  friend  Charles  Pierrepont  Cleaver  and  two 
or  three  other  undergraduates  in  executing  a  painted 
window  for  the  College  Chapel.  In  his  second  year  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Pitt  Club,  which  he  con- 
tinued to  use  as  a  convenient  place  for  writing  letters 
during  more  than  half  a  century.  Although  he  was  a 
very  fair  classical  scholar  when  he  went  up  to  Cambridge, 
the  Classical  Tripos,  which  in  those  days  was  only  open 
to  men  who  had  already  taken  honours  in  Mathematics, 
did  not  appeal  to  him.  The  Natural  Sciences  Tripos 
was  then  in  its  infancy  (the  first  examination  was  held  in 
1851),  but  he  was  not  attracted  by  Chemistry  and 
Physics,  which  were  the  most  important  subjects  in  the 
school  at  that  time.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Henslow,  the  famous  Professor  of  Botany,  and  long 
enjoyed  his  friendship ;  his  tastes,  however,  already 
inclined  him  strongly  towards  the  other  branch  of 
Biology,  and  he  regretted  afterwards  that  he  had  never 
become  even  a  passable  botanist.  He  graduated  on 
March  10, 1852,  but  as  that  day  fell  after  Ash  Wednesday 
he  was  in  the  phraseology  of  the  day  a  Baccalaureus 

*  His  nephews  and  nieces  founded  an  "  Alfred  Newton  English  Essay 
Prize  "  at  Magdalene  in  order  to  perpetuate  his  memory  there. 

11 


12    EARLY  INTEREST  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY 

Artium  ad  Baptistam,  and  consequently,  by  the  regula- 
tions then  in  force,  was  reckoned  as  a  bachelor  of  1853. 

"  In  1697  the  Rev.  Drue  Drury  bequeathed  to  Magda- 
lene College  the  perpetual  advowson  of  the  vicarage  of 
Steeple  Ashton,  Wilts,  and  the  impropriate  parsonage  of 
the  said  place,  to  found  a  Travelling  Fellowship  for  a 
'gentleman's  son  of  Norfolk.'  In  1847  the  value  of 
the  Fellowship  was  £366  gross,  £268  net."  * 

Owing  to  the  fortunate  circumstance  mentioned 
above  of  Mr.  Newton  holding  the  commission  of  the  peace 
for  Norfolk,  although  a  resident  in  Suffolk,  and  thanks  to 
the  good  offices  of  the  then  Master,  George  Neville- 
Grenville  (appointed  Dean  of  Windsor  in  the  same  year), 
Alfred  Newton  was  elected  in  the  spring  of  1853  to  the 
Drury  Travelling  Fellowship,  which  happened  to  be 
vacant.  Unfortunately  the  church  at  Steeple  Ashton 
was  sadly  in  need  of  repair  at  that  time  ;  funds  were 
diverted  to  pay  the  cost  of  restoring  the  chancel,  and  the 
slender  emoluments  of  the  Travelling  Fellow  compelled 
him  to  stop  at  home.  He  stayed  in  residence  at  Cam- 
bridge until  the  autumn  of  1854,  when  he  went  to  Elveden, 
which  was  his  home  until  the  place  was  sold  in  1863  after 
the  death  of  his  father. 

For  some  years  now  he  had  been  corresponding  on 
Natural  History  subjects,  chiefly  ornithological,  with 
naturalists  all  over  the  country  ;  among  these  may  be 
mentioned  Yarrell,  Gould,  J.  H.  Gurney,  and  Sir  William 
Jardine,  to  whom  he  had  become  known  through  his 
contributions  to  the  pages  of  the  Zoologist.  But  his  most 
important  correspondence  was  with  John  Wolley.  The 
two  men  had  been  corresponding  for  some  three  years, 
and  in  October,  1851,  Wolley  first  called  on  Newton  in  his 
rooms  at  Cambridge,  after  which  their  acquaintance 
ripened  into  a  firm  friendship.  Wolley's  work  was 

*  From  "  Magdalene  College,"  by  E.  K.  Parnell.  (F.  E.  Robinson  &  Co.) 


JOHN  WOLLEY  13 

destined  to  have  so  profound  an  influence  on  that  of 
Newton,  that  a  short  account  of  his  life  may  fittingly  be 
given  here.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  John 
Wolley,  afterwards  vicar  of  Beeston,  Notts,  and  was 
born  in  1824.  From  Eton,  where  he  spent  six  years,  he 
went  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1842.  He 
graduated  in  1846  and  in  1847  he  went  to  Edinburgh, 
where  he  studied  medicine  for  three  years.  His  vaca- 
tions were  devoted  to  the  pursuit  of  Natural  History, 
and  on  his  egg-collecting  expeditions  he  gained  a  remark- 
able familiarity  with  the  most  remote  districts  of  the 
British  Islands. 

John  Wolley's  more  important  travels  and  ornitho- 
logical discoveries  may  be  told  in  Newton's  words  : —  * 

He  left  England  for  the  North  in  April,  1853.  He  had 
become  persuaded  from  careful  consideration  of  many 
facts  that  the  country  between  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of 
Bothnia  and  the  Arctic  Ocean  must  be  the  breeding 
place  of  many  birds  whose  homes  were  unknown.  He 
was  delayed  both  at  Gottenburg  and  Stockholm  by  the 
difficulty  of  getting  local  information,  and  was  finally 
compelled  to  start  knowing  very  little  of  what  was 
required.  He  went  up  with  the  Spring,  instead  of  being 
beforehand  with  it,  and  his  progress  was  slow. 

When  he  got  to  Muonioniska  he  found  himself  too 
late  for  the  eggs  of  the  Birds  of  Prey,  and  I  now  have  the 
hatched-out  shell  of  a  Rough-legged  Buzzard's  egg, 
which  was  the  only  bit  of  such  a  common  species  as  that 
which  he  procured.  In  those  days  no  one  in  England 
had  an  authenticated  egg  of  that  bird.  It  was  the  same 
with  Cranes  and  many  others.  Siberian  Jays  (the  eggs 
then  quite  unknown)  had  hatched  out  long  since.  He 
got  a  single  nest  of  Temminck's  Stint  and  some  4  or  5 
Jack-Snipes'  (both  unknown  in  England),  about  as  many 
nests  of  Broad-billed  Sandpiper,  but  that  had  before 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  April  7,  1874. 


14    EARLY  INTEREST  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY 

been  found.  In  Ducks  he  did  better,  but  altogether  his 
results  were  meagre.  However,  he  was  anything  but 
discouraged.  He  resolved  to  winter  in  the  country  and 
visit  every  house  within  a  large  district  to  make  inquiries 
and  invite  people  to  supply  his  wants.  This  he  did  most 
effectually,  and  the  following  year  he  had  Gyrfalcons', 
any  number  of  Buzzards',  Shore  Larks',  and  many  other 
valuable  eggs  of  his  own  taking.  Still  Pine  Grosbeak, 
Siberian  Jay,  and  above  all  Waxwing,  all  escaped  him. 
He  came  home  for  6  weeks  in  August,  1854,  and  then 
returned  for  another  winter,  working  as  before.  In  1855 
he  pushed  on  to  the  Varanger,  and  then  Hudleston  and 
I  joined  him.  With  him  as  our  pioneer  we  did  very 
fairly,  and  returning  home  by  Muonioniska  we  found 
Siberian  Jay  and  Pine  Grosbeak  had  been  obtained. 

The  winter  of  1855-6  he  was  at  home ;  in  spring  of  /56 
he  went  to  (Eland  and  Gottland,*  which  proved  a  failure, 
and  then  pushed  on  to  Muonioniska,  where  the  great 
discovery  of  Waxwing  had  just  been  effected.  There  he 
wintered,  again  in  spring  made  a  fresh  incursion  to  the 
Varanger— or  very  near  it — got  Buffon's  Skua,  and 
finally  Smew.  Then  he  returned  home,  keeping  up  an 
active  correspondence  with  people  in  Lapland.  In  1858 
he  went  to  Iceland.  Then  his  health  gave  way  and  in 
1859  he  died.  Still  his  seed  bore  fruit,  and  Snowy  Owls' 
eggs  came  to  me  in  1860  or  /61 — I  forget  which. 

I  believe  that  not  one  half  of  his  successes  would  have 
been  attained  but  for  his  persistently  wintering  in  Lapland 
and  getting  to  know  all  the  people  of  the  country.  At 
the  same  time  I  am  not  going  to  say  that  for  you  it  would 
be  necessary  to  winter  in  the  Petchora.  You  have  fewer 
objects  to  attain  and  this  extreme  measure  may  not  be 
necessary.  Grey  Plover,  Little  Stint,  Curlew  Sandpiper, 
and  Bewick's  Swan  and  Steller's  Duck  alone  demand 
your  chief  attention.  He  had  not  only  all  these  to 
inquire  about,  but  twice  as  many  besides. 

*  "  Led  astray  by  a  statement  of  Westerland  that  he  had  found  Larus 
rmmdiis  breeding  in  (Eland,  he  wasted  a  season  there  ;  otherwise  he  would 
most  likely  have  been  on  the  scene  when  the  Waxwing  discovery  was  made. 


BIKD'S-NESTING  IN  LAPLAND  15 

Wolley's  letters  from  Scandinavia  attracted  Newton 
strongly,  and  the  fauna  of  northern  countries  always 
interested  him,  perhaps,  more  than  that  of  any  other 
region.  Wolley  was  an  extremely  accurate  and  careful 
observer,  who  accepted  nothing  on  hearsay  evidence, 
with  the  result  that  his  collections  gained  greatly  in 
value  from  the  complete  authenticity  of  every  specimen. 
The  following  extract  from  one  of  his  letters  *  shows 
something  of  his  energetic  and  painstaking  nature  and  at 
the  same  time  gives  a  description  of  bird-hunting  in 
Lapland,  which  is  as  true  to-day  as  it  was  in  his  time. 

To  find  the  marsh  birds'  nests  it  is  useless  to  be 
alone  ;  the  population  here  is  very  scanty,  and  just  the 
fortnight  that  the  birds  have  eggs  every  man,  woman  and 
child  is  busy  with  his  own  affairs,  and  laying  in  everything 
he  will  want  for  a  long  winter,  so  that  it  was  very  difficult 
to  get  any  one.  I  had  to  pay  high  wages  to  the  people 
who  went  with  me  to  the  marshes,  and  besides  to  give 
them  two  or  three  bits  of  silver  for  every  egg  they  found. 
I  worked  night  and  day,  often  up  to  my  middle  in  mud 
and  water,  under  a  scorching  sun  or  in  drenching  rain, 
amidst  clouds  of  gnats  of  a  most  greedy  and  venomous 
kind,  which  made  the  night  more  unpleasant  than  the 
day.  To  manage  ten  or  twelve  persons,  beaters,  etc.,  is 
no  easy  thing  when  you  are  well  used  to  them  and  they 
to  their  business,  but  when  all  your  men  are  quite  unused 
to  the  kind  of  thing,  when  your  Swedish  companion  can- 
not understand  your  expressions,  such  as  "  take  a  beat," 
"  quarter  the  ground,"  "  keep  the  line,"  when  he  has  to 
repeat  these  to  a  Finnish  interpreter  and  he  again  to 
explain  them  to  the  natives,  and  when  after  all  you  have 
to  make  these  natives  follow  the  explanations,  it  is 
both  difficult  and  fatiguing  and  involves  great  loss  of 
time. 

Then  the  places  frequented  by  the  birds  one  want  are 
few  and  far  between.  The  people  do  not  know  the  kinds, 

*  Dated,  July,  186a 


16    EARLY  INTEREST  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY 

and  one  had  no  clue  at  first  to  the  local  names.  At  one 
time  I  am  told  of  a  place,  7  or  8  miles  off,  where  there  are 
many  wading  birds  ;  going  there  with  full  forces  I  find 
there  are  certainly  many  Curlews.  Another  time  I  hear 
of  a  famous  lake,  20  miles  off,  renowned  over  the  country 
for  birds ;  every  bird  I  ask  for  is  to  be  found  there  ; 
coming  to  it  I  find  scarcely  anything  :  it  is  an  autumnal 
rendezvous  for  Ducks  and  Geese. 

Mosquitoes,  fleas,  bugs,  midges,  dirty  houses,  no  bed- 
clothes, no  bread,  sour  milk,  reindeer  flesh  raw  and  as 
hard  as  a  board,  are  not  luxuries.  If  you  want  to  wash 
they  bring  you  the  same  little  sour  bowl  out  of  which  you 
drink.  All  these  little  things  make  a  bird-nesting  ex- 
pedition here  very  different  from  one  when  one  leaves  a 
comfortable  English  house  in  the  morning  to  return  to  it 
in  the  evening.  I  find  myself  lose  strength  and  spirits, 
so  that  it  requires  some  resolution  to  continue  my 
exertions.  Now,  however,  I  am  in  excellent  winter 
quarters,  a  clean  house,  capital  cook,  and  every  necessary, 
and  if  I  were  to  remain  here  next  summer  I  should  do 
much  more  in  the  bird-nesting  way,  from  the  benefit  of 
experience  both  as  to  names,  localities,  and  habits, 
besides  as  to  the  best  mode  of  keeping  oneself  in  health 
and  spirits  in  the  wilderness.  But  I  think  of  going  to 
Spitzbergen.  I  am  informed  that  a  vessel  goes  from 
Hammerfest  occasionally  to  hunt  reindeer  and  kill 
walruses  there.  In  the  winter  I  propose  to  drive  my 
pulka  with  my  swift-footed  rein  over  to  Alten  and  make 
inquiries,  and  if  I  find  it  feasible,  I  shall  certainly  try 
what  I  can  do  in  Spitzbergen. 

It  was  the  custom  in  those  days  for  ornithologists  to 
attempt  to  defray  part  of  the  cost  of  their  travels  by 
selling  some  of  their  duplicate  specimens  of  skins  and 
eggs.  Newton  undertook  to  dispose  of  Wolley's  speci- 
mens, and  the  annual  sales  at  Stevens'  Auction  Rooms  of 
the  rarities  from  Lapland  were  events  which  attracted  a 
crowd  of  naturalists  from  all  over  the  country.  There; 


SALES  OF  EGGS  17 

was  very  keen  competition  among  collectors  to  secure 
specimens  of  the  newly-discovered  species,  and  high 
prices  were  obtained  for  the  eggs  of  the  Waxwing,  Pine 
Grosbeak,  Siberian  Jay,  etc.  :  thus  £5  105.  was  paid  for 
the  first  egg  of  the  Waxwing,  £4  5s.  for  an  egg  of  the  Pine 
Grosbeak,  and  25s.  for  a  single  egg  of  the  Siberian  Jay. 
Greatly  exaggerated  rumours  went  about  concerning  the 
profits  made  by  these  sales.  The  total  amount  realised 
by  Wolley's  seven  sales  from  1853  to  1859  did  not  exceed 
£940,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  cost  of  obtaining  the 
specimens  greatly  exceeded  that  sum.  In  1860,  after 
Wolley's  death,  Newton  held  another  sale  of  a  large 
number  of  his  duplicate  specimens  ;  the  sum  amounted 
to  about  £200,  which  he  devoted  to  the  publication  of  the 
first  part  of  the  catalogue  of  Wolley's  collection,  the 
"  Ootheca  Wolleyana." 

It  was  in  1855  that  Newton  made  his  only  journey  to 
Lapland.  With  his  friend  W.  Hudleston  Simpson  *  he 
crossed  the  North  Sea  from  Hull  to  Christiania  at  the 
end  of  May.  It  blew  half  a  gale  and  the  ship,  "  being 
much  impeded  by  a  railway  carriage  in  the  fore  part  of 
the  deck,"  made  only  four  and  a  half  knots  an  hour,  but 
Newton  alone  of  all  the  passengers  suffered  not  at  all. 
From  Christiania  the  railway  extended  at  that  time  only 
as  far  as  Eidswold,  and  thence  they  drove  to  Trondhjem 
in  carrioles,  being  accompanied  a  part  of  the  way  by  one 
of  the  earliest  mountaineers  in  Norway,  Blackwell,t  with 
the  Chamonix  guide,  Gideon  Balmat.  By  covering  the 
last  hundred  miles  into  Trondhjem  in  twenty-eight  hours 
they  arrived  just  in  time  to  take  passage  in  the  weekly 
mail  steamer  to  Hammerfest.  As  they  went  northward 
up  the  coast  all  the  days  and  most  of  the  nights  were 


*  Afterwards  W.  H.  Hudleston,  F.R.S. ;  died  1909. 
t  Eardley  J.   Blackwell :    made  one  of  the  earliest  ascents  of  the 
Wetterhorn  in  1854. 

C 


18    EARLY  INTEREST  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY 

spent  on  deck  in  noting  birds  new  to  them  and  in  admira- 
tion of  the  fantastic  beauty  of  the  Lofotens.  At  Ham- 
merfest  they  were  delayed  by  gales  and  snowstorms  for 
twelve  days,  which  they  spent  in  the  very  uncomfortable 
inn  of  that  unattractive  town.  On  June  16  they  passed 
the  North  Cape,  and  two  days  later,  after  visiting  Homo, 
which  was  then  hostile  territory  (being  in  the  Province 
of  Archangel),  they  landed  at  Vadso.  On  the  19th 
they  were  joined  by  Wolley,  who  had  just  returned  from 
his  expedition  to  Lake  Enare  and  the  Patsjoki,  where  he 
had  discovered  the  nest  of  the  Hooper.*  He  brought 
with  him  a  couple  of  young  Sea-Eagles  alive  and  a  train 
of  Jays  and  Grouse,  as  well  as  a  mass  of  bones,  skins, 
feathers,  down,  and  so  forth.  Beside  the  precious 
Swan's  eggs,  he  had  brought  very  many  more,  and  the 
children  of  Vadso  were  waiting  for  him  with  all  the  eggs 
they  had  collected  for  him  during  the  season,  so  the  three 
men  set  up  blowing  eggs  until  five  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  it  is  not  surprising  to  learn  that  the  baker's  house 
(where  they  stayed)  seemed  to  have  been  turned  into  a 
poulterer's  shop.  In  a  day  or  two  lodgings  were  found 
for  Wolley's  live  birds,  and  the  party  then  set  off  in  boats 
up  the  Varanger  Fjord,  where  they  remained  for  a 
month.  They  did  not  attain  the  principal  object  of 
their  search,  the  breeding  place  of  Buffon's  Skua,  but 
they  succeeded  in  finding  the  nests  of  many  rare  and 
interesting  birds.  Newton  and  Simpson  were  the  first 
Englishmen  to  find  and  identify  the  eggs  of  the  Red- 
throated  Pipit  (Anthus  cervinus),  and  they  obtained  many 
others  that  were  new  to  them,  such  as  Red-necked 
Phalarope,  Temminck's  Stint,  Bluethroat,  Velvet  Scoter, 
Turnstone,  Shore  Lark,  and  others.  They  made  an 
expedition  to  the  Tana  River,  where  Simpson  caught 

*  J.W.'s  very  graphic  account  of  this  discovery  may  be  read  in  "  Ootheca 
Wolley  ana,"  vol.  ii.  p.  495. 


JOURNEY  THROUGH  LAPLAND  10 

salmon,  whilst  Newton  accused  himself  of  being  the  only 
Englishman  who  ever  visited  that  famous  river  without 
the  desire  to  cast  a  fly. 

After  investigating  the  remarkable  raised  beaches  of 
the  Varanger  Fjord,  they  returned  to  Hammerfest  and 
thence  went  by  steamer  up  the  Lyngen  Fjord  to  Skibotn. 
That  region  had  been  very  seldom  visited  by  Englishmen 
in  those  days,  and  their  journey  across  the  peninsula  to 
the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  was  considered  a  very  creditable 
feat.*  After  crossing  the  watershed  they  found  boats 
awaiting  them  at  Kilpis-jarvi,  and  in  these  they  descended 
the  Muonio  River  to  Wolley's  headquarters  at  Muonio- 
vara.  Nearly  a  month  was  spent  in  collecting  and  pack- 
ing the  eggs  which  Wolley's  collectors  had  obtained  for 
him.  Newton  traversed  the  famous  swamp — no  light 
undertaking  for  a  lame  man — to  see  the  spot  where  the 
first  Crane's  nest  had  been  discovered  two  years  before 
and  Simpson  had  good  sport  with  the  wild-fowl  with 
which  the  Muonio  abounds.  In  September  they  con- 
tinued their  journey  in  boats  down  the  river  to  Hapa- 
randa,  whence  they  returned  by  way  of  Stockholm  to 
England. 

Though  he  was  able  only  once  to  visit  Lapland, 
Newton  always  spoke  of  it  as  a  sort  of  ornithological 
paradise,  and  years  afterwards,  as  the  present  writer  can 
gratefully  testify,  he  was  ready  to  help  and  advise 
younger  naturalists  who  proposed  to  follow  in  his  steps. 

When  Mr.  Harvie-Brown  returned  from  a  Norwegian 
trip  in  1871,  he  advised  him  to  go  farther  east  into  a 
country  which  at  that  time  was  almost  unknown  territory 
to  naturalists. 

I  met  Mr.  Alston  in  London  and  was  very  glad  to  find 

*  An  excellent  account  of  this  part  of  their  journey  was  written  by 
Simpson  for  Fraser's  Magazine,  April,  1856. 


20    EARLY  INTEREST  IN  NATURAL    HISTORY 

you  and  he  had  enjoyed  your  trip  to  Norway  so  much. 
I  hope  you  will  go  again  to  the  North,  but  pray  take  my 
word  for  it  that  if  you  only  reach  a  good  high  altitude, 
the  further  eastward  you  go  the  more  you  will  get.  I  believe 
the  land  of  promise  for  an  oologist  is  in  N,  Finland 
between  the  Kemi  River  and  the  White  Sea.  Anything 
I  can  do  to  further  your  explorations  in  that  direction 
you  can  entirely  command. 

East  Finmark  is  nearly  as  well  known  as  the  Scottish 
Highlands,  you  might  get  something  new  there  just  as 
you  might  in  the  Highlands,  but  the  chances  are  greatly 
against  it.  Northern  Finland  is  quite  an  untouched 
country. 

The  Snow  Bunting  ought  to  be  found  without  diffi- 
culty in  Scotland.  I  never  had  any  trouble  in  marking 
a  bird  to  her  nest.* 

Three  years  later  Harvie-Brown  had  an  opportunity 
of  taking  Newton's  advice,  and  planned  to  go  farther 
east  still  to  the  Petchora. 

I  am  delighted  to  find  that  the  Petchora  scheme  is 
coming  off  and  I  envy  you  not  a  little.  The  only  species 
I  can  add  to  your  prospective  bill  of  fare  is  Bewick's 
Swan.  That  and  the  Curlew  Sandpiper  seem  to  me  the 
most  urgent  of  the  desideratissima  with  which  you  are 
likely  to  fall  in,  and  I  would  beseech  you  to  spare  no 
trouble  about  them,  and  not  to  be  discouraged  if  you  do 
not  get  eggs  this  year,  provided  you  can  only  ascertain 
that  these  species  breed  there.  Remember  how  Wolley 
worked  for  years  in  faith  and  was  rewarded  at  last.  You 
will,  I  am  afraid,  find  it  a  very  hard  expedition,  and  I 
hope  you  will  not  knock  up  under  the  miseries  of  hunger 
and  cold.  The  Samoieds  are  now  I  dare  say  peaceable 
enough,  but  in  the  days  when  Wolley  was  thinking  of 
going  to  the  Petchora  they  were  reported  by  the  Russians 
to  be  very  savage.  I  don't  know  that  anything  on  the 
fauna  of  the  country  has  ever  been  published,  certainly 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  October  28,  1871. 


MUSK  OX  21 

there  is  no  zoology  that  I  could  ever  find  in  Keyserling's 
"  Reise  nach  Petchora  Land,"  so  that  all  ought  to  be 
interesting  and  I  trust  you  will  make  copious  notes  for 
at  least  a  paper  in  the  Ibis,  if  not  for  a  book. 

It  would  be  well  to  study  carefully  the  diagnostic 
characters  of  Bewick's  Swan  before  you  go,  so  that  you 
may  know  it  from  the  Hooper  through  your  glass,  if 
you  cannot  get  near  enough  to  shoot  it.  Curlew  Sand- 
piper with  its  white  rump  and  red  head  and  neck  is 
unmistakable,  but  a  breeding  plumage  skin  to  show  the 
natives  would  not  be  a  bad  thing  to  take  with  you.* 

Persons  voyaging  to  Polar  Seas  were  always  appealed 
to  by  him  to  bring  back  specimens  for  the  Museum,  and 
among  them  was  his  friend  Colonel  (then  Major)  H.  W. 
Feilden,  who  served  on  board  H.M.S.  Alert  in  Nares' 
Expedition  of  1875-6. 

When  the  proceeds  of  the  German  Arctic  Expedition 
were  sold  at  Bremen  some  time  ago  we  bought  a  skeleton 
of  a  Musk  Ox  (bull)  supposed  to  be  perfect ;  the  money 
was  paid  and  some  time  elapsed  before  it  was  overhauled 
— then  we  found  that  the  bones  of  the  left  metacarpus  were 
wanting !  Can  you  then  among  other  things  secure  us 
an  Extra  left  fore  leg  of  a  Musk  Bull,  if  you  fall  in  with 
any  ?  N.B. — Anything,  I  am  sure,  pertaining  to  Ovibos — 
even  the  dung  in  a  bottle — would  be  most  valuable,  as 
the  poor  beast  is  not  long  for  this  world.  I  do  wonder 
if  this  next  month  will  see  you  cut  the  Knotty  tangle,  f 

The  "  knotty  tangle  "  was  the  question  of  the  possible 
discovery  of  the  hitherto  unknown  breeding-place  of  the 
Knot.  Newton  had  been  chaffed  by  a  writer  in  the 
Saturday  Review  because  he  had  suggested  that  Knots 
might  be  found  breeding  on  green  meadows  near  Smith 
Sound.  He  begged  Feilden  to  help  him  out  of  the  scrape, 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  March  28,  1874. 
t  Letter  to  H.  W.  Feilden,  June  21,  1875. 


22    EARLY  INTEREST  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY 

and  before  the  expedition  sailed  he  gave  him  as  a  parting 
present  a  knife  with  the  following  inscription  : — 

HOC  FERRO 

NB   MODO   ALEXANDRI 

SED  ALEXANDRI  PRECEPTORIS 

SECETUR 

NODUS  * 

HENRICO   WEMYSS   FEILDEN 
POLUM  PETENTI. 

A.N. 
*  What  the  Knot  is  requires  no  explanation  to  an  Ibis. 

As  a  matter  of  history,  it  may  be  recorded  that  the 
breeding-place  of  the  Knot  was  discovered  during  the 
course  of  that  expedition.  In  July  an  old  bird  accom- 
panied by  three  nestlings  was  obtained  near  the  Alert 
on  Grinnell  Land,  in  82°  33'  N.  latitude  ;  and  in  the  same 
month  Mr.  Chichester  Hart,  naturalist  to  H.M.S. 
Discovery,  obtained  in  81°  44'  N.  latitude  a  brood  of 
four  young  birds,  disturbed  from  the  nest.  So  the 
Knotty  tangle  was  cut. 

By  way  of  recognition  of  Newton's  services  to  the 
Expedition,  in  advice  to  the  naturalists  and  care  of  the 
specimens  they  obtained,  a  newly  discovered  glacier  was 
named  after  him  by  Admiral  Sir  George  Nares.  The 
Alfred  Newton  Glacier  discharges  into  the  sea  on  the 
west  side  of  Smith  Sound  in  78°  30'  N.  latitude,  between 
the  north  entrance  of  Baird  Inlet  and  Leconte  Island. 

"  The  compliment  paid  me  by  Nares'  Expedition  is 
certainly  a  great  one,  though  one  can  hardly  look  on 
a  glacier  as  a  very  abiding  monument,  and  it  suggests 
a  cold  and  grinding  disposition  which  I  hope  is  not 
mine."  f 

In  1857  Newton  went  to  the  West  Indies  and  visited 
the  islands  of  St.  Croix  and  St.  Thomas,  in  the  former  of 

t  Letter  to  A.  C.  Smith,  March  26,  1879. 


HUMMING-BIRDS  23 

which  one  of  his  brothers,  Francis  Rodes,  was  living. 
He  made  many  interesting  observations  on  the  birds  of 
the  islands  and  afterwards,  with  his  brother  Edward, 
contributed  a  valuable  paper  on  the  Birds  of  St.  Croix 
to  the  first  volume  of  the  Ibis.  He  was  strongly  attracted 
by  the  beauty  of  the  tropical  fauna,  which  he  saw  then 
for  the  first  time — 

I  think  it  is  quite  worth  crossing  the  Atlantic  to  see 
Humming-birds.  No  pen  can  describe  and  no  pencil 
depict  the  suddenness  with  which  the  little  fairy  appears 
before  you,  the  rapidity  with  which,  on  wings  whirring 
like  a  cotton  mill,  he  visits  flower  after  flower,  and  then 
when  you  least  expect  it,  away  he  shoots  in  pursuit  of  a 
rival.  All  this  while  (about  thirty  seconds)  you  are 
holding  your  breath  for  fear  of  blowing  him  away. 
However,  his  glittering  feathers  are  quite  unseen  by  men 
on  such  occasions  ;  one  may  catch  a  glimpse  of  their 
sheen  when  he  happens  to  mount  aloft  on  a  dead  tama- 
rind bough  and  draw  his  primaries  through  his  mandibles, 
but  then  it  just  depends  upon  whether  he  and  you  are 
relatively  in  the  right  position  for  the  light.* 

An  interesting  note  relating  to  Humming-birds  is 
recorded  in  a  letter  written  to  his  brother  : — 

I  think  the  only  other  ornithological  occurrence  of 
interest  that  I  have  met  with  is  that  the  other  day  I  saw 
a  Humming-bird  fairly  caught  in  a  spider's  web.  The 
bird  came  into  my  room  and  went  furiously  spinning 
round  and  round  the  ceiling;  at  length  it  touched  a 
pretty  big  spider's  web,  and  was  quite  powerless.  The 
net  was,  luckily  for  the  bird,  an  old,  deserted  one  and 
very  much  tattered  ;  therefore  after  hanging  for  some 
seconds,  if  not  minutes,  a  series  of  violent  struggles 
released  it.  I  caught  the  bird  subsequently  and  found 
its  feathers  quite  bound  up  with  the  web.  It  has  been 
often  asserted  by  the  old  writers  that  Humming-birds 

*  Letter  to  T.  Southwell,  December  8,  1857. 


24    EARLY  INTEREST  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY 

get  caught  in  spiders'  webs,  and  as  often  doubted. 
Gosse  declares  that  he  is  sure  that  no  web  could  ever  for 
a  moment  stop  the  flight  of  any,  even  the  least,  species 
of  Humming-bird  ;  now  here  I  have  proof  positive  to  the 
contrary.  It  might  be  said  that  the  bird  was  already 
fatigued  by  its  attempts  to  get  out  of  the  room ;  but 
then  it  must  be  remembered  on  the  other  hand  that  the 
web  was  an  old  one,  deserted  and  in  rags  ;  had  it  been  in 
good  order  I  much  question  whether  the  bird  could  have 
escaped. 

From  the  West  Indies  Newton  went  to  New  Orleans, 
and  thence  to  Boston  and  New  York,  where  a  serious 
illness  prevented  him  from  carrying  out  an  extensive 
tour  in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  But  his  visit  to 
America,  though  it  was  never  repeated,  gave  him  a 
cordial  liking  for  American  men  and  institutions,  and  it 
was  the  beginning  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  leading 
naturalists  of  the  country,  Agassiz,  Baird,  Coues,  and 
many  others,  with  whom  he  kept  up  a  life-long  corre- 
spondence. 

Another  circumstance  connected  with  this  journey  is 
that  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  "  teaching  young  America 
how  to  blow  eggs."  Instead  of  the  old  method  of 
blowing  eggs  with  two  holes,  he  explained  to  them  the 
use  of  the  drill  and  blowpipe,  by  means  of  which  the 
contents  are  removed  through  a  single  hole  in  the  side  of 
the  egg.  His  paper,  entitled  "  Suggestions  for  Forming 
Collections  of  Birds'  Eggs,"  was  published  in  their 
Miscellaneous  Collections  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
in  1860. 

Even  when  he  was  most  busily  occupied,  Newton 
always  found  time  to  write  to  an  ever-increasing  number 
of  friends  in  England  and  elsewhere,  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  the  annual  meeting  of  ornithologists  and  to 
negotiate  exchanges  of  specimens  and  so  on.  One  of  his 


VISIT  TO  AMERICA  25 

most  intimate  friends  and  frequent  correspondents  was 
H.  B.  Tristram,*  who  had  just  at  this  time  returned  from 
a  very  successful  expedition  to  Algeria. 

Boston, 
September  1,  1857. 

MY  DEAR  TRISTRAM, 

I  can  only  afford  you  just  time  enough  and 
this  scrap  of  paper  to  express  my  exultation  at  your  safe 
return  from  the  most  unprecedented  campaign  that 
Algeria  has  ever  been  the  theatre  of.  The  glories  of 
African  generals  of  all  nations  and  times  sink  to  nothing 
when  compared  with  yours ;  Sesostris,  Marius,  Alexander, 
Menon,  Abercromby,  with  all  the  moderns,  Bugeaud,  Sir 
Harry  Smith,  and  Pelissier,  are  nobodies.  Moses  only 
spoiled  the  Egyptians,  but  to  have  carried  off  such  a 
booty  under  the  noses  of  French  naturalists  is  a  much 
greater  triumph,  and  the  Algerians  seem  to  me  to  have 
expiated  all  their  past  cruelties  to  Christian  slaves  by 
the  way  they  have  assisted  you.  In  the  plenitude  of 
your  wealth,  however,  I  hope  you  will  not  forget  one  who 
on  whichever  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Tropic  of  Cancer 
he  has  been,  has  been  always  wishing  for  your  success  ; 
not,  though,  that  I  can  offer  you  anything  more  like 
"reciprocity"  than  that  which  under  the  same  name 
Brother  Jonathan  holds  out  to  the  Blue-nosed  fishermen. 
But  I  am  one  of  those  who  will  readily  hoard  up  quicquid 
de  Libycis  verritur  areis.  I  have  seen  Dr.  Brewer  and 
his  collection,  of  neither  is  much  to  be  said ;  the  Dr.  is 
reserved  to  an  astonishing  degree  for  a  Yankee,  and  has 
evidently  never  enjoyed  anything  like  those  glorious 
days  of  last  September  when  you  met  me  at  Cambridge, 
the  memory  of  those  talks  de  omnibus  ambits,  etc.,  has 
cheered  me  many  a  time  for  the  last  eight  months,  when 
with  the  exception  of  two  hours  with  Downs  at  Halifax 
(a  real  out  and  outer)  I  have  not  met  with  a  soul  who 
could  converse  on  the  subject.  His  collection  is  ex- 
tremely moderate  considering  the  scope  of  it  and  what 

*  Canon  of  Durham,  D.D.,  F.R.S. :  died  1906. 


26    EAKLY  INTEREST  IN  NATURAL  HISTORY 

must  have  been  great  opportunities,  the  only  egg  I 
coveted  a  Hooded  Merganser's,  of  which  you  have  one. 

What  is  to  be  done  about  an  Oological  conference 
this  year  ?  You  will  be  the  great  difficulty,  or  rather 
I  should  say  the  time  and  place  that  will  suit  you.  I 
trust  sincerely  your  health  is  better. 

Yours  most  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

Another  of  Newton's  early  correspondents,  and  later 
a  life-long  friend,  was  John  Henry  Gurney,  of  Norwich. 
From  1844,  when  they  became  acquainted  by  means  of 
a  Sea  Eagle,  until  Gurney 's  death  in  1890,  they  kept  up 
a  frequent  correspondence,  mostly  about  birds  of  prey, 
of  which  Mr.  Gurney's  famous  collection  is  now  in  the 
Norwich  Museum.  He  was  also  a  generous  contributor 
to  the  Museum  at  Cambridge. 


CHAPTER  III 

VISIT    TO    ICELAND 

IN  the  year  following  his  first  visit  to  the  West  Indies 
Newton  went  with  John  Wolley  to  Iceland.  He  had  for 
a  long  time  cherished  the  idea  that  the  Great  Auk,  or 
Gare-fowl  as  he  always  preferred  to  call  it,  might  still 
survive  on  some  of  the  skerries  off  the  coast  of  Iceland. 
Wolley,  always  enthusiastic,  was  very  sanguine  of  success, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1858  they  resolved  to  put  their 
theory  to  the  test.  The  story  of  their  journey  is  told 
in  two  letters  to  Edward  Newton  : — 

Reykjavik,  May  2,  1858. 

I  left  Elveden  on  April  20,  and  reached  Edinburgh 
on  the  21st,  where  I  found  Wolley  just  arrived  and  in 
good  force.  The  next  morning  we  got  off  about  9.30. 
A  perfectly  calm  day,  warm  for  the  time  of  year,  but 
misty  ;  the  Firth  of  Forth  like  glass  ;  some  common  sea- 
birds  about  but  not  many,  besides  Velvet  Scoters  and 
Gannets.  At  sun-down,  8  p.m.,  we  were  north  of  Aber- 
deen. The  next  morning  (being  off  the  Pentland  Firth) 
was  just  as  still,  and  we  made  good  speed ;  towards 
afternoon  we  sighted  Fair  Island,  lying  between  Orkney 
and  Shetland,  and  soon  after  saw  the  lighthouse  on  N. 
Ronaldshay,  the  land  being  invisible  ;  later  still  we 
sighted  Foula,  which  we  only  lost  about  dark.  Only 
common  sea-birds  about.  On  the  24th  I  saw  Fulmars 
from  my  port-hole  window  before  I  was  up.  A  few 
"Wheatears  joined  us  and  a  couple  of  Pipits  appeared. 
About  1  p.m.  we  made  Sudero,  one  of  the  Faroerne  ; 
before  long  we  encountered  two  Great  Skuas — the  first  I 

27 


28  VISIT  TO  ICELAND 

had  ever  seen — and  soon  after  four  dropped  anchor  at 
Thorshaven,  the  capital.  Here  we  landed  a  good  many 
passengers,  for  we  had  so  far  been  rather  inconveniently 
crowded ;  among  them  the  Stiftsampteraand  or  Governor, 
whose  arrival  was  the  cause  of  a  deal  of  gunning.  Wolley 
and  myself  went  ashore  wth  the  mails,  consisting  of 
twenty  letters  (the  first  post  received  this  year  from 
Denmark).  We  walked  about  and  viewed  the  town  and 
suburbs.  All  the  houses  are  covered  with  grass,  but  such 
as  we  entered  seemed  comfortable.  They  are  built  with- 
out the  slightest  reference  to  the  inequalities  of  the 
ground,  but  with  regular  though  extremely  narrow 
streets.  We  found  the  people  sowing  their  barley,  turn- 
ing up  the  ground  with  an  instrument,  the  inventor  of 
which  must  have  had  a  marrow-spoon  in  his  mind  which 
he  enlarged  to  the  dimensions  of  a  cricket  bat.  Spade 
it  can  hardly  be  called ;  yet  even  this  elaborate  imple- 
ment is  not  required  in  reality,  for  there  being  little  or  no 
subsoil  in  Fsero,  about  an  inch  and  a  half  is  as  much  as 
seems  to  be  dug  up.  All  the  male  population  seem 
dressed  in  uniform,  a  brown  homespun  loose  jacket,  some- 
times with  silver  buttons ;  a  striped  woollen  cap,  the  end 
hanging  down ;  knee  breeches,  worsted  stockings  and 
shoes  without  soles,  built  on  the  lines  of  a  moccasin  or  a 
Turkish  slipper.  One  of  the  Sysselmaand,  Miiller  by 
name,  is  a  great  "  pal "  of  Wolley 's  and  he  entertained 
us  to  supper  before  we  left,  which  we  did  about  midnight, 
the  moon  and  the  high  latitude  between  them  making  it 
quite  light.  On  shore  we  only  saw  some  Hooded  Crows, 
a  Wheatear  and  Golden  Plover.  As  we  left  Fsero  we  got 
a  tolerable  Atlantic  roll  which  continued  increasing  for 
the  rest  of  our  voyage.  We  now  found  our  party  reduced 
considerably,  not  only  by  the  desertion  we  had  experi- 
enced at  Faero  (one  of  whom  was  a  most  extraordinary- 
looking  German  Professor,  whose  week-old  beard  and 
bear-like  projecting  snout  did  him  with  a  most  grotesque 
expression  endue,)  but  by  other  causes  which  kept  a 
considerable  number  of  Icelanders,  both  male  and  female, 
to  their  berths.  Wolley,  however,  behaved  remarkably 


VOYAGE  TO  ICELAND  29 

well  and  was  never  fairly  under  the  weather.  We  had 
two  Scotchmen  on  board  ;  they  were  from  Glasgow  and 
were,  and  are,  prospecting  to  see  if  they  can  open  any 
advantageous  trade.  Both  of  them  good  sort  of  fellows. 
Wolley  would  not  have  it,  but  I  am  sure  I  saw  an  Alca 
alle  on  this  day ;  the  next  day  we  both  saw  two,  all 
appeared  to  be  in  good  summer  dress ;  the  first  of  the 
species,  of  course,  he  or  I  had  ever  seen.  We  now  had 
rather  roughish  weather  with  rain.  Lots  of  Fulmars 
about.  In  the  afternoon  we  fancied  we  saw  land,  which 
towards  evening  it  clearly  proved  to  be.  Just  about  sun- 
down, somewhere  towards  9  o'clock,  a  Wheatear  came 
on  board,  and  evidently  wished  to  pass  the  night  with  us, 
but  I  doubt  if  the  poor  beast  succeeded  in  doing  so. 
Next  morning  we  passed  the  Westmann  Islands  about 
2  o'clock,  but  it  was  thick  when  I  got  on  deck  and  land 
was  not  visible  ;  soon  after  we  sighted  it  again  and  never 
again  lost  it.  About  noon  we  passed  the  celebrated  Meal 
Sack,  but  we  must  have  been  nearly  two  miles  from  it. 
It  is  certainly  well  named,  for  in  one  direction  it  has 
very  much  the  sort  of  look  of  a  sack  half  filled,  with  the 
sides  turned  down,  and  I  do  not  doubt  but  that  in  the 
season  it  is  white  enough  on  the  top.  On  the  landward 
side  runs  out  a  low  shelf  or  rock,  whereon  the  Greak  Auk 
is  supposed  to  have  bred.  Outside  at  the  distance  of  about 
four  times  its  diameter  lies  a  small  low  skerry,  which  had 
a  very  inviting  appearance,  but  the  water  is  said  at 
times  to  go  right  over  it. 

There  were  a  great  quantity  of  Gannets  and  Fulmars 
about,  also  Kittiwakes  and  the  common  Alcidce.  We 
looked  of  course  for  the  Geier  Fugle,  but  in  vain.  It 
came  on  to  blow  pretty  smartly,  and  I  think  our  Captains 
(for  we  had  both  an  English  and  a  Danish  one  on  board, 
who  will  I  take  it  have  a  real  good  cat  and  dog  life  of  it 
during  the  summer)  were  glad  when  we  let  go  our  anchor 
off  this  place. 

We  were  much  amused  at  an  enthusiastic  young  girl 
rushing  up  from  below  as  we  passed  a  solitary  grass- 
covered  house,  and  in  spite  of  the  traces  of  so  much 


30  VISIT  TO  ICELAND 

suffering  on  her  face,  exclaiming,  "  Ah,  there  is  Ness  ! 
there  was  I  born  !  " 

Just  before  we  anchored  I  had  a  good  view  of  a 
Pomarine  Skua.  Eider-ducks,  Ravens  and  Grt.  B.  b. 
Gulls  about.  When  we  landed  we  came  straight  up  to 
the  Hotel  or  Club  as  they  call  it,  where  we  obtained 
lodgings  and  where  we  still  are,  pretty  well  accommo- 
dated, faring  much  better  than  I  had  expected,  though 
we  have  to  eat  both  Eider  Ducks  and  Merganser.  The 
next  morning  we  called  on  the  Rector  of  the  Native 
School,  from  whom  we  then  and  since  experienced  much 
civility  and  coffee.  Afterwards  we  did  ourselves  the 
honour  of  visiting  the  Governor,  Count  Trampe,  nephew 
of  the  man  of  that  name  who  was  here  in  Hooker's  time, 
and  was  taken  prisoner  by  Jorgensen.  With  him  also 
we  got  on  very  well,  and  between  these  two  we  now  know 
nearly  every  one  of  consideration  in  the  place.  The  next 
three  days  it  blew  a  great  gale  ;  so  much  so  that  we  were 
unable  to  get  our  heavy  baggage  from  the  steamer  ;  but 
this  was  nothing  to  the  awful  night  we  had  on  Friday 
when  we  went  to  eat  a  "  bit  of  bread  "  with  the  Rector. 
Three  or  four  of  the  biggest  swells  were  asked  to  meet 
us,  and  a  terrible  quantity  of  claret  and  punch  had  to 
be  drunk ;  however,  we  got  home  after  two  in  the 
morning,  but  I  can  honestly  say  quite  sober,  and  thanks 
to  the  purity  of  the  drinks  were  none  the  worse  the  next 
day.  We  called  on  the  apothecary,  who  has  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  an  ornithologist,  but  found  nothing  of 
interest  in  the  few  skins  he  had — Iceland  Falcon,  Anas 
Barrovii,  A.  histrionica,  etc.  We  saw  a  picture  of  the 
last  Great  Auk ;  probably  the  one  seen  by  Pliny  Miles 
and  Mrs.  Bushby,  a  wretched  performance  ;  this  bird 
was  said  to  have  been  taken  at  the  Meal  Sack  in  1846. 

We  have  since  seen  a  man  who  lives  at  Kirkjuvogr, 
the  nearest  village  to  the  Meal  Sack.  He  has  made  four 
trips  there,  the  last  in  /56,  when  no  Geier  Fugles  were 
found ;  on  the  previous  occasions,  24,  7,  and  2  were 
obtained.  We  are  to  go  to  him  in  about  a  fortnight, 
and  then  to  make  the  expedition  in  two  boats.  I  do  not 


DELAY  AT  REYKJAVIK  31 

think  there  is  much  risk,  if,  as  we  shall  do,  we  wait  for 
favourable  weather.  We  are  now  in  treaty  with  a 
Divinity  Student  who  comes  from  that  part  of  the 
country  to  make  a  special  journey  to  the  Eastern  Geier 
Fugle  skerry  for  us,  as  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  visit  both 
that  and  the  Cape  Reykjanes  locality  within  the  necessary 
time.  It  will  be  an  expensive  business,  but  it  is,  I  am 
inclined  to  think,  the  best  card  in  the  pack,  and  one  I 
should  never  forgive  myself  for  not  playing,  if  afterwards 
it  should  turn  out  the  birds  were  there.  It  is  very  doubt- 
ful if  this  rock,  lying  as  it  does  40  miles  out,  has  been 
visited  for  a  hundred  years. 

This  fellow,  by  name  Magnussen,  will  not  be  back  by 
the  time  the  steamer  sails  next.  He  only  came  to  us  this 
evening,  and  we  have  hardly  considered  the  terms,  but  I 
think  we  shall  engage  with  him.  He  is  highly  recom- 
mended by  the  Rector,  but  there  is  some  difficulty  about 
his  going,  as  he  ought  to  pass  an  examination  at  the 
College  here  just  about  the  time ;  but  the  Rector  has 
promised  to  see  if  that  necessity  can  be  avoided,  so 
sensibly  do  they  regard  such  matters  here.  Only  fancy 
at  Cambridge  the  Vice-Chancellor  letting  a  man  off  his 
Little-Go  because  he  was  wanted  to  go  and  look  for  a 
Great  Bustard's  nest  !  !  !  But  Herr  Rector  Jonsen  is  a 
real  good  fellow.  The  Land-Physicus,  Herr  Hjaldalin, 
is  to  go  with  us  to  Kirkjuvogr,  and  we  are  to  take  as 
guide  Geier  Zoega,  the  man  Bushby  recommended.  I 
very  much  want  to  go  first  to  the  Geysers,  as  nothing 
ornithological  can  yet  be  done  (for  I  should  think  nothing 
but  Iceland  Falcon  has  eggs  now,  and  we  must  give  up 
hope  of  taking  any  ourselves  as  they  do  not  breed  within 
many  days'  journey  of  this),  and  we  may  afterwards  be 
hurried  for  time  ;  but  Wolley  requires  gentle  managing, 
he  is  too  fond  of  delaying  things. 

May3. 

We  have  just  heard  that  the  steamer  is  positively  to 
sail  to-night,  so  I  must  make  haste  to  finish  my  letter, 
especially  as  a  learned  professor  of  the  Icelandic  tongue 
is  expected  every  minute,  to  give  us  our  second  lesson  in 


32  VISIT  TO  ICELAND 

his  language,  and  Wolley  is  studying  his  task,  which  is  a 
Saga  and  seems  to  be  written  intentionally  for  beginners, 
as  it  opens,  "  There  was  a  man  and  his  name  was  Grim." 
The  pronunciation  is  the  most  difficult  thing  I  ever  heard, 
it  beats  Finnish  into  fits,  and  the  spelling  seems  to  be  no 
guide  to  it.  I  want  to  know  a  few  words  as  up  the 
country  there  will  be  no  one  who  can  speak  Danish.  We 
have  a  disagreeable  wet  day,  but  altogether  the  weather 
is  better  than  I  expected  it  would  be,  though  we  have 
had  a  Greenland  gale  with  snow,  hard  frosts  several 
nights,  and  ice  to  bear  a  stone.  A  good-sized  lake,  close 
to  the  house  and  the  town,  has  been  twice  frozen  since 
we  have  been  here.  Round  its  shores  I  have  seen  Red- 
shanks, Ringed  Plover  and  White  Wagtail.  Wheatears 
are  seen  among  the  buildings  of  the  town,  and  close  by 
among  the  small  enclosures  of  stone  walls  are  Snow  Bunt- 
ings and  Golden  Plover.  Ptarmigan  are  not  found  near  ; 
there  is  supposed  to  be  a  man  now  gone  in  search  of  some 
for  us,  but  I  cannot  help  thinking  he  is  staying  at  home. 
Every  Icelandic  (as  distinguished  from  Danish)  house 
has  attached  to  it  a  building  for  drying  fish,  and  hanging 
at  the  door  of  each  is  generally  to  be  seen  a  bundle  of 
roughly  prepared  skins  of  Gulls,  mostly  Kittiwakes  ;  but 
I  found  in  one  lot  a  young  and  old  Iceland  or  Glaucous 
Gull,  I  could  not  make  out  which,  as  I  had  no  means 
of  ascertaining  the  size.  I  have  done  nothing  yet  about 
getting  ponies,  in  fact  there  is  not  much  use  in  doing  so 
until  one  wants  to  go  somewhere,  as  there  would  only  be 
the  trouble  of  having  to  look  after  them  in  the  town,  and 
fodder  is  not  only  dear  but  hardly  to  be  got.  Henderson, 
one  of  the  Scotchmen  I  before  mentioned,  has  bought 
about  18,  however,  which  he  takes  back  with  him  ;  they 
are  all  in  the  most  miserable  condition,  but  with  hair  so 
long  they  look  like  bears. 

Kirkjuvogr,  near  Cape  Reykjanes, 
S.W.  of  Iceland, 

May  28,  1858. 

Here  we  are  at  one  of  the  nearest  places  to  the 
Great  Auk  Islands,  and  here  we  have  been  for  a  week. 


BIKDS  AT  REYKJAVIK  33 

We  left  Reykjavik  on  the  19th,  having  stayed  there  all 
the  time  from  our  arrival,  the  spring  being  so  backward 
that  it  was  said  to  be  impossible  to  get  grass  for  the 
horses,  and  thereby  travelling  was  rendered  very  difficult. 
Of  course,  it  was  a  great  bore  being  weatherbound  in  the 
metropolis  as  it  was  not  lively,  and  a  very  bad  place 
ornithologically  speaking.  Besides  this  we  were  almost 
in  a  chronic  state  of  intoxication  from  the  unnecessary 
amount  of  hospitality  we  had  to  endure,  but  as  it  was  all 
meant  as  civilly  as  possible  one  had  nothing  to  do  but 
abide  it,  and  certainly  no  people  could  have  put  them- 
selves in  the  way  of  doing  all  we  wished  (with  this  one 
exception)  than  everybody  we  met.  I  told  you  before 
of  the  readiness  with  which  they  allowed  Mr.  Eric  Mag- 
nussen  to  start  off  for  us  to  the  Eastern  Great  A.  rocks, 
and  in  due  time  the  young  man  left  us  in  very  good 
heart,  and  I  hope  he  has  now  arrived  at  the  point  on  the 
coast  opposite  to  it.  What  the  result  of  his  journey  may 
be,  we  may  not  know  for  another  six  weeks.  He  was 
also  commissioned  to  look  after  some  Falcon's  eggs,  but 
we  thought  it  best  as  he  was  not  an  ornithologist  not  to 
embarrass  him  with  other  subjects.  Reykjavik,  as  I  said 
before,  is  a  very  bad  bird  place,  and  very  little,  if  anything, 
of  any  consequence  breeds  in  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood, excepting  perhaps  Glaucous  Gull,  which  is  said  to 
be  on  some  of  the  islands  in  the  Fjord,  but  these  we  could 
not  find  any  trustworthy  person  to  look  for,  and  of  course 
taken  by  any  one  else,  they  would  be  of  no  value,  for 
there  are  quite  enough  Grt.  Black  backs  about.  The 
only  birds  I  saw  of  them  up  to  the  present  time  have 
been  young  ones,  and  the  same  with  Iceland  Gulls. 
Several  people  in  the  place  make  a  sort  of  trade  in  selling 
skins  and  we  bought  some  at  moderate  prices,  but 
nothing  of  any  rarity.  One  fellow  had  a  small  immature 
Gull  killed  last  winter,  which  we  got  from  him.  I  am 
not  sure  whether  it  is  L.  ridibundus  or  not,  but  none  of 
that  group  have  been  yet  found  in  the  country.  We  got 
also  nearly  a  dozen  falcons'  skins,  nearly  all  Icelanders 
but  one  or  two  Greenlanders.  For  a  real  white  Greenlander 


34  VISIT  TO  ICELAND 

they  charge  as  much  as  £1,  so  that  we  did  not  go 
deeply  into  them.  Harlequins  and  Barrow's  Ducks  are 
moderate,  but  there  is  no  great  stock  of  them.  I  also  got 
a  few  birds  skinned  by  a  good  woman  who  does  them 
very  fairly  well,  and  very  reasonably.  Young  Glaucous, 
Adult  Black-backed  Gulls,  White-fronted  Goose,  Great 
Northern  Diver,  etc.,  besides  some  Ptarmigan ;  these 
have  not  yet  got  much  out  of  their  winter  plumage, 
though,  by  the  way,  I  have  not  seen  any  fresh-killed  the 
last  week  or  ten  days.  Thus  much  of  our  stay  at  Reyk- 
javik ;  we  left  it,  as  I  said  before,  on  the  19th  with  Geier 
Zoega  (the  man  recommended  by  Bushby)  as  our  guide, 
in  company  with  the  Land  Physicus, — a  sort  of  Govern- 
ment Doctor, — who  was  going  his  rounds  to  look  after 
lepers.  He  is  the  man  whom  Ld.  Dufferin  calls  the 
"  cheeriest  of  Doctors,"  and  very  rightly  so,  as  he  is  a 
real  good  fellow.  We  hired  horses  for  this  expedition, 
as  grass  is  so  scarce  we  could  hardly  expect  to  feed  them 
here,  and  in  addition  to  this  the  time  of  our  stay  here 
was,  and  is,  so  uncertain.  We  had  some  difficulty  in 
accomplishing  about  30  miles  English  the  first  day, 
owing  to  the  badness  of  the  ponies'  condition  and  of  the 
road ;  the  Doctor,  who  is  a  very  big  man,  had  three  of 
his  own  for  his  own  riding  and  they  all  had  a  benefit  of 
it.  I  rode  one  animal  all  the  way  except  the  last  few 
miles.  Wolley  had  two.  We  had  besides  in  company 
the  Doctor's  guide  (who  was  also  Ld.  Dufferin's  and  to 
whom  we  brought  a  whip  from  Ld.  D.)  and  a  Veterinary 
surgeon  who  is  sent  here  to  cure  the  scab,  which  is  killing 
all  the  sheep  ;  so  that  we  had  medical  accommodation 
for  man  and  beast.  The  Vet.,  by  the  way,  got  a  very 
nasty  fall,  the  ground  giving  under  his  pony,  who  came 
on  the  top  of  him. 

The  greater  part  of  the  way  lay  over  streams  of  lava, 
all  the  productions  of  some  one  or  other  of  the  half-dozen 
or  so  respectable-looking  volcanoes  whose  cones  break 
the  horizon  to  the  eastward  of  us.  These  lava  streams 
vary  very  much  in  their  character ;  some  are  tolerably 
smooth,  or  look  like  dried  coal-tar  that  has  run  out ; 


LAVA  AND  MOSSES  35 

but  others  are  peaked  and  jagged  in  the  most  fantastic 
way  you  can  imagine  ;  anyhow,  each  stream  seemed  as 
we  came  to  it  to  be  worse  to  pass  than  the  last.  The 
road  sometimes  goes  over  the  stuff,  at  others  winding  in 
and  out,  up  and  down,  in  fissures  and  faults  of  it,  where 
generally  is  collected  a  foot  or  two  of  soft  dry  sand, 
which  does  not  render  it  a  less  "  hard  road  to  travel."  A 
good  deal  of  the  lava  is  grown  over  with  mosses,  of  which 
there  seems  to  be  a  great  number  of  species  ;  one  of  the 
commonest  I  never  saw  before,  it  is  very  soft  and  long, 
dark  green,  but  with  a  thick  white  down  which  gives  it 
the  appearance  of  wool,  and  this  covering  so  much  of 
the  ground  and  rocks,  when  contrasted  with  the  dark 
lava  on  which  it  grows,  makes  the  whole  scene  look  more 
like  a  good  photograph  with  its  lights  and  shadows  well 
brought  out  than  anything  else  ;  certainly  a  photograph 
would  be  the  only  thing  to  give  an  idea  of  the  look  of 
one  of  these  places.  Occasionally  a  little  heather  or 
cranberry,  and  even  birch  (six  inches  high,  not  more) 
grows  amongst  this  desolation,  and  there  may  be  heard 
and  seen  the  Redwing,  singing  "  tut-tut-tut-tut  "  just  as 
he  does  in  Lapland,  but  here  being  nearly  the  only  song 
bird  it  does  not  sound  so  monotonous.  One  sees,  too,  a 
good  many  Snow  Buntings,  and  they  have  a  pretty  song. 
In  fact,  these  with  Raven,  White  Wagtail,  Wheatear  and 
Titlark  are  the  only  passerine  birds  in  Iceland.  Ravens 
are  tamer  even  than  the  ones  at  home  and  far  more 
impudent. 

Further  on  on  our  march  we  came  to  a  waterless  dis- 
trict, which  did  not  improve  the  going  of  the  horses  (good 
water  is  scarce  all  over  the  country,  even  here  it  is  much 
too  salt  to  drink  for  pleasure  ;  perhaps  it  is  why  the 
Icelanders  prefer  stronger  liquors),  but  we  finally  arrived 
at  Keblavik,  where  we  passed  the  night  at  a  very  respect- 
able place,  and  stopped  there  the  next  day,  the  Doctor 
having  to  visit  some  of  his  leprous  patients,  and  we  not 
being  in  any  hurry  waited  for  him.  At  dinner  we  had 
Turnstones  and  Purple  Sandpipers,  as  we  found  after- 
wards by  asking  to  see  their  heads. 


36  VISIT  TO  ICELAND 

On  the  21st  we  set  out  and  came  on  here,  but  by  a 
long  round  as  we  wished  to  see  a  priest  who  lives  close  to 
Skagen,  and  some  other  people  who  were  supposed  to 
know  about  Great  Auk.  They  were  duly  examined  and 
their  depositions  taken.  On  our  way  we  saw  a  great 
many  Turnstones,  a  few  Dunlins  and  Sanderlings  (of  the 
latter  I  shot  a  9>  tne  ovary  backward,  and  in  a  very 
moderate  state  of  plumage)  and  some  Red-necked  Phala- 
ropes.  We  passed  some  ponds  whereon  Faber  says  he 
found  Grey  Phalarope  breeding,  though  he  did  not  get 
their  eggs.  We  got  two  fellows  to  dig  at  a  rubbish  heap, 
where  an  old  man  said  he  remembered  seeing  Great  Auks' 
bones,  but  we  found  nothing  but  fishes'  remains.  We 
finally  arrived  here  late  in  the  evening  and  saw  a  beautiful 
sight  on  the  shore  ;  three  Iceland  Gulls,  young,  of  course, 
sitting  on  the  water  close  to  the  landing-place,  as  tame 
as  possible  ;  as  many  Red-necked  Phalaropes  swimming 
about  in  a  little  bay  of  their  own,  hardly  larger  than  a 
hip-bath  ;  Purple  Sandpipers  creeping  about  on  the  rocks 
like  rats,  and  a  vast  number  of  Turnstones  ;  some  of 
these,  too,  were  running  about  among  the  houses  on  the 
short  warren-like  turf  with  Golden  Plover,  just  as  you 
see  Blackbirds  and  Thrushes  on  a  lawn  in  England.  Since 
we  have  been  here  we  have  done  but  little  in  the  bird  way. 
We  have  not  yet  had  a  sufiiciently  calm  day  to  admit  of 
our  going  to  sea,  though  one  morning  we  were  on  the 
point  of  starting  when  our  leader,  who  has  been  the 
foreman  of  most  of  the  later  expeditions  to  the  rocks, 
decided,  and  wisely  as  it  turned  out,  that  it  would  not 
do.  Our  arrangements  are  completed  ;  we  are  to  have 
two  10-oar  boats  for  greater  security,  and  16  men  in 
each,  so  that  some  may  rest ;  thus  with  ourselves  and 
Zoega  there  will  be  35  souls  embarked  on  the  enterprise. 
With  these  precautions,  I  think  the  risk  is  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  The  information  which  Wolley  has  acquired 
amounts  to  about  this.  In  old  times  the  true  Geirfug- 
lasker  was  the  place  visited,  and  no  one  thought  of  going 
to  the  Meal  Sack  (Eldey)  until  a  boat  was  seen  to 
land  there  from  a  "  yacht "  (i.e.  cutter),  and  then  an  enter- 


BKEEDING-PLACE  OF  GREAT  AUK        37 

prising  fellow  went  there  and  took  8  Great  Auks  out  of  a 
considerable  number,  the  greater  part  of  which  escaped 
as  the  men  did  not  know  the  dodge  of  catching  them, 
which  after  all  amounts  only  to  going  very  quietly. 
Shortly  after  this,  in  the  spring  of  1830,  a  submarine 
eruption  took  place,  and  the  true  Geirfuglasker  sank 
(whether  any  part  of  it  is  still  above  the  surface  is  doubt- 
ful). Since  then  the  Meal  Sack  has  only  been  visited  and 
with  varying  success ;  one  year  (probably  1831)  24 
were  taken  there  and  their  skins  sold  to  merchants  at 
Keblavik.  In  1846,  our  present  landlord  and  leader 
went  to  the  Meal  Sack  and  took  two  birds ;  one  egg — if 
not  two — was  seen  but  was  accidentally  broken,  and  we 
cannot  make  out  that  the  bird  has  since  been  seen  by 
any  one.  The  rock  has  been  since  visited  at  least  twice, 
one  year  in  August,  which  was,  of  course,  far  too  late  to 
find  the  bird,  and  last  year  people  went  but  were  unable 
to  land ;  the  leader  of  that  expedition  is  extremely 
anxious  to  go  again  this  year,  though  he  declares  he  saw 
nothing  last  time.  It  seems  pretty  certain  that  the  bird 
is  very  irregular  in  its  visits,  sometimes  keeping  away 
for  several  years  in  succession,  so  that  there  is  still  just  a 
hope.  When  Faber  was  here  some  thirty  years  ago,  he 
cruised  for  three  days  off  the  old  Geirfuglasker ;  they 
were  unable  to  land,  but  he  says  he  could  see  every  bird 
on  the  rock  and  there  was  not  a  Gare-fowl  among  them  ; 
now  it  is  clear  that  long  after  his  time  there  were  several 
successful  captures  made  there,  and  it  has  happened  in 
the  same  way  at  the  Meal  Sack.  It  is  very  singular  that 
we  cannot  make  out  that  more  than  half  a  dozen,  if  so 
many,  eggs  have  been  taken  here  within  the  last  thirty 
years.  The  merchants,  though  they  have  given  large 
sums  for  the  birds,  have  never  cared  much  for  the  eggs, 
and  it  is  a  mystery  to  us  where  all  the  eggs  have  come 
from  that  are  in  collections,  unless  indeed  they  have 
been  from  the  Eastern  islet  to  which  Mr.  Magnussen  has 
gone,  and  where  they  may  have  been  obtained  by  French 
fishing  vessels,  of  whom  there  are  a  great  number  on 
that  coast.  All  accounts  agree  in  saying  that  on  land 


38  VISIT  TO  ICELAND 

the  bird  is  blind  and  only  gets  its  sight  when  it  is  in  the 
water,  but  it  has  capital  ears.  Of  course,  there  is  some 
mistake  here.  In  the  water  it  swims  deep  with  its  head 
cocked  up,  and  does  not  keep  dipping  its  bill  as  Razor- 
bills and  Guillemots  do.  Some  old  fellows  say  that  there 
are  always  as  many  eggs  found  as  birds,  which  can  only 
be  accounted  for  by  the  supposition  that  the  cocks  and 
hens  relieve  each  other.  It  is  therefore  a  point  of  con- 
siderable importance  whether  two  eggs  or  one  were  found 
in  1846,  and  we  have  been  unable  to  get  satisfactory 
evidence  respecting  it.  If  as  one  man  says  there  were 
two,  there  must  have  been  other  birds  out  fishing  at  the 
time  the  boat  landed,  and  then  there  is  a  strong  pre- 
sumption that  the  bird  was  not  exterminated  in  that 
year.  Wolley  is  much  more  sanguine  about  success  than 
I  am,  and  I  think  more  than  he  has  a  right  to  be  ;  but 
at  the  same  time  I  am  not  more  desponding  than  I  have 
always  been  about  it. 

June  2. 

The  steamer  passed  Reykjanes  the  afternoon  before 
last.  I  am  in  hopes  that  I  may  get  letters  to-day  ;  but 
people  have  such  odd  notions  of  the  necessity  of  doing 
anything  at  once  in  this  country  that  I  have  my  doubts. 
I  forgot  to  say  that  on  the  24th  largeish  flocks  of  Knots 
arrived,  which  were  increased  on  the  following  day.  They 
were  very  wild  and  it  was  only  after  several  trials  that 
we  shot  one,  which  proved  to  be  a  male  and  well  advanced 
in  plumage.  Yesterday  they  had  diminished  in  numbers, 
and  to-day  I  have  not  seen  one.  By  far  the  greater  part 
of  the  Turnstones  and  Purple  Sandpipers  too  have  gone  ; 
so  also  Dunlin  and  Golden  Plover,  and  I  have  not  seen  a 
Sanderling  now  for  nearly  a  week.  I  suspect  Grey 
Phalarope  breeds  hereabouts  occasionally ;  a  man  says  he 
found  a  "  Randbrustling  "  nest  on  an  islet  here  once, 
and  this  name  though  properly  applicable  to  the  Knot, 
is  also  used  for  the  other  Redbreast,  and  this  man  spoke 
of  its  swimming  in  the  water  like  "  Odin's  Hani  "  (Red- 
necked Phi.).  We  have  again  tried  digging  for  Great 
Auks'  bones,  but  without  success.  We  are  endeavouring 


GREAT  AUK  39 

to  get  some  live  White-winged  Gulls  for  the  Zoological, 
but  the  brutes  are  very  wary,  and  do  not  seem  inclined 
to  take  either  a  baited  hook  or  to  get  into  a  snare. 

On  Sunday  (the  30th)  I  saw  a  fine  Buffon's  Skua  here, 
and  yesterday  evening  a  man  sent  us  one  from  Keblavik 
that  he  had  shot.  I  have  tried  several  times  in  vain  to 
find  Snow  Buntings'  nests  ;  they  are  now  building,  but 
they  do  not  seem  to  have  a  good  heart  in  the  matter,  for 
often  after  picking  up  a  nice  bit  of  wool  or  a  feather  they 
let  it  drop  again  before  long.  I  succeeded  some  days  ago 
in  watching  a  White  Wagtail  to  its  nest,  but  there  are  no 
eggs  yet.  The  only  eggs  I  have  seen,  are  one  nest  of 
Lesser  Black-backed  Gull  and  three  Golden  Plovers' 
which  have  been  brought  in.  The  weather  still  looks  far 
from  being  settled,  and  it  seems  as  if  we  might  be  here 
at  least  another  fortnight.  What  our  future  plans  may 
be  I  cannot  say  at  all.  Of  course,  the  great  object  is  to 
reach  Great  Auk,  but  unless  we  soon  get  the  attempt 
made  it  will  be  of  no  use  going  northward,  and  then  we 
must  devote  ourselves  to  Grey  Phalarope  in  this  corner 
of  the  island.  We  have  sent  to  the  westward  to  Oddi, 
for  Gooses'  eggs,  as  Faber  says  Anser  albifrons  is  there 
only. 

I  shall  certainly  try  and  get  home  by  the  middle  of 
August,  though  I  think  Wolley  will  very  likely  stay 
longer. 

Elveden,  August  16,  1858. 

The  result,  then,  in  short  was  nothing.  Not  one  day 
of  the  whole  two  months  we  were  at  Kirkjuvogr  was  the 
sea  ever  sufficiently  calm  to  have  allowed  us  to  land, 
even  had  we  gone  out,  and  we  have  come  back  knowing 
no  more  than  when  we  started  whether  the  Great  Auk 
is  living  or  dead. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  GREAT  AUK- 

THE  journey  to  Iceland,  though  it  resulted  in  no  definite 
knowledge  as  to  the  continued  existence  of  the  Gare-fowl, 
so  far  from  discouraging  Newton  proved  to  be  the 
beginning  of  a  prolonged  investigation  of  the  natural 
history,  distribution,  and  remains  of  that  most  remarkable 
bird.  The  many  days  that  they  spent  in  enforced 
idleness  in  Iceland  were  occupied  by  Newton  and  Wolley 
in  examining  a  score  or  more  of  witnesses,  fishermen  and 
sailors,  who  had  visited  the  breeding-places  of  the  Gare- 
fowl  and  had  been  present  on  the  occasions  when  the 
birds  had  been  killed  or  captured.  The  result  of  their 
investigations  was  published  *  by  Newton  after  Wolley 's 
death.  An  interesting  point,  and  one  to  be  greatly 
deplored,  which  they  discovered  in  the  course  of  their 
inquiry,  was  that  the  extermination  of  the  bird  had  been 
greatly  hastened  by  the  action  of  the  European  museums 
in  offering  large  sums  for  their  skins  and  eggs.  Discussing 
the  probable  fate  of  the  bird,  Newton  wrote  | : — 

As  to  the  extinction  of  the  Great  Auk,  if  it  is  extinct, 
I  think  it  has  been  mainly  accomplished  by  human 
means.  The  first  ^decided  blow,  from  which  probably 
the  race  never  rallied,  must  have  been  that  delivered  by 
the  crew  of  a  strange  vessel  who  about  45  years  ago, 
while  lying  becalmed  off  Cape  Reykjanes,  landed  on 
the  Geirfuglasker  and  committed  an  enormous  slaughter. 

*  "  Abstract  of  Mr.  J.  Wolley's  Researches  in  Iceland  respecting  the 
Gare-fowl  or  Great  Auk  (Alca  impennis,  Linn.),"  Ibis,  October,  1861. 
t  Letter  to  T.  Southwell,  Esq.,  August  30,  1858.     Elveden. 
40 


EXTERMINATION  OF  GREAT  AUK        41 

They  loaded  their  boat  with  birds,  among  which  Gare- 
fowls  were  in  no  inconsiderable  number,  leaving  yet  as 
many  more  on  the  island  which  they  had  killed  but 
could  find  no  room  for.  I  saw  a  man  who  was  present  on 
this  occasion.  Some  18  years  later  the  Geirfuglasker 
sank  beneath  the  waves  in  a  volcanic  disturbance  of  the 
sea's  bottom,  and  about  that  time  a  few  birds,  the 
descendants  probably  of  those  who  had  survived  the 
great  massacre,  were  found  on  an  island  lying  nearer 
the  mainland,  but  still  only  to  be  reached  with  difficulty. 
Under  the  influence  of  the  "  Almighty  Dollar  "  (though 
in  Iceland  it  is  not  worth  4/2)  these  poor  birds  were 
persecuted,  their  eggs  plundered  and  their  necks  broken 
to  supply  the  demand  which  Museums  were  then  creating. 
And  so  the  number  dwindled,  until  in  1844,  the  only 
two  then  to  be  seen  were  taken,  their  egg  broken  (the 
shell  left  on  the  rock)  and  their  skins  shipped  to  Europe. 
I  do  not  think  there  is  any  good  evidence  of  the  bird 
being  seen  since  that  time  ;  but  I  confess  I  do  not  give 
it  quite  up,  nor  shall  I  for  the  next  five  or  six  years, 
though  the  places  suitable  for  its  breeding  station  must 
be  very  few  in  number.  The  coast  of  Iceland  is  well 
known,  and  as  Iceland  is  the  most  northern  limit  of  the 
bird's  range,  it  is  useless  trying  further  towards  the  Pole. 
The  east  coast  of  Greenland  is  encumbered  by  ice,  and 
Labrador  is  nearly  as  well  known  as  Iceland. 

Wolley  died  in  the  year  following  their  return  to 
England,  and  Newton  never  found  an  opportunity  of 
repeating  his  visit  to  Iceland,  but  from  that  time  he 
began  to  collect  every  scrap  of  information  *  relating  to 
the  Gare-fowl  and  to  prepare  a  complete  list  f  of  all  the 
existing  remains  of  the  bird — eggs,  skins,  and  bones.  On 
his  journeys  about  England  and  the  Continent  he  visited 
every  public  and  private  collection  which  possessed  a 

*  "  The  Gare-fowl  and  its  Historians,"  Natural  History  Review,  October, 
1865. 

t  "  On  Existing  Remains  of  the  Gare-fowl  (Alca  impennis),"  The  Ibis, 
April,  1870. 


42  THE  GREAT  AUK 

Gare-fowl  and  made  careful  notes  of  its  history.  In 
John  Wolley's  collection  of  eggs,  which  was  bequeathed 
to  him,  were  two  eggs  of  the  Gare-fowl :  these  formed 
the  nucleus  of  his  own  famous  collection  of  seven  eggs, 
which  are  now  in  the  University  Museum  at  Cambridge. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  eggs  were  sold  in 
those  days  far  below  the  enormous  prices  they  fetch 
nowadays,  but  there  was  a  good  deal  more  of  romance 
about  it  then  than  there  is  now  in  bidding  at  auction  for 
an  egg,  every  point  in  whose  history  for  the  last  fifty 
years  is  known.  Mr.  Gould  bought  an  egg  at,  a  toyshop 
in  Regent  Street  for  ten  pounds,  and,  thinking  it  to  be 
a  coloured  model,  sold  it  again  a  few  days  later.  Mr. 
Yarrell  bought  an  egg  in  Paris  for  two  francs  ! 

The  story  of  Newton's  first  purchase  is  graphically 
told  in  a  letter  to  Canon  Tristram  : — • 

I  dread  the  consequences  of  some  news  I  have  to 
impart,  especially  as  regards  Salvin  and  the  Godmans. 
However,  it  is  a  punishment  on  them  for  their  base  deser- 
tion of  me,  and  a  reward  to  me  for  my  patience  under 
adversity.  In  going  about  London  this  very  wet  day  I 
have  picked  up  the  greatest  prize  an  English  Oologist 
can  meet  with.  I  stumbled  on  the  scent  of  it  in  the 
subterranean  regions  of  Bloomsbury,  and  after  a  brilliant 
burst  in  a  hansom  ran  it  to  ground  under  the  shadow  of 
St.  Mary-le-Strand,  a  locality  already  sacred  to  the  gentle 
memories  of  poor  old  Salmon  and  his  great  egg.  The 
long  and  short  is  I  have  to-day  purchased  a  Great  Auk's 
egg,  one  whose  existence  was  previously  unknown  to  me. 
I  felt  bound  to  rescue  this  Andromeda  from  being 
chained  in  the  sunshine  of  Gardner's  window,  but  I 
must  confess  she  is  not  remarkable  for  her  good  looks, 
though  I  have  seen  worse,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  her 
antecedents  are  likely  to  prove  extremely  interesting. 

I  expect  to  hear  of  Salvin  and  Percy  Godman  embrac- 
ing and  then  leaping  off  the  top  of  Sno3haetten,  and  of 
Fred's  drowning  himself  in  the  Lake  of  Lucerne  through 


BUYING  GREAT  AUK'S  EGG  43 

envy.  Poor  fellows ;  but  what  could  one  do  ?  Is  a 
Great  Auk's  egg  to  be  suffered  to  be  pilloried  in  Oxford 
Street  exposed  to  the  contemptuous  gaze  of  the  cads  of 
Holborn  ?  Ho  !  St.  Geirfowl  to  the  rescue  ! 

Of  the  price  no  man  knoweth  save and  myself  ; 

all  I  can  say  is  that  sentimental  oologising  is  expensive, 
and  may  that  consideration  comfort  my  absent  brothers 
of  the  B.O.U.* 

The  antecedents  of  that  egg  were,  as  Newton  sup- 
posed, extremely  interesting  and  not  altogether  reputable. 
When  he  first  saw  it,  the  egg  bore  a  paper  label,  and  the 
owner,  Mr.  Calvert,  showed  Newton  a  number  of  other 
eggs  bearing  similar  labels,  which  he  said  he  had  bought 
recently  at  the  sale  of  the  Natural  History  part  of  the 
Museum  of  the  United  Service  Institution.  But  the 
Great  Auk's  egg,  though  he  thought  it  came  from  the 
same  collection,  he  said  he  had  bought  from  some  one 
else  a  fortnight  before. 

I  told  him  that  I  had  learned  from  Mr.  Leadbeater 
that  there  was  no  such  thing  in  the  collection,  but  he 
replied  that  the  sale  was  so  badly  managed  that  whole 
boxes,  full  of  odds  and  ends,  were  sold  without  examina- 
tion, and  this  agreed  also  with  Mr.  Leadbeater's  account. 
It  ended  in  my  coming  to  terms  with  Mr.  Calvert ;  I 
was  to  have  the  egg  conditionally  on  his  informing  me 
whence  he  obtained  it,  and  he  was  to  keep  it  for  me  till 
my  return  from  the  Continent,  whither  I  was  intending 
to  proceed  that  night — I  paying  a  deposit  upon  it.  On 
September  4  I  called  by  appointment  to  redeem  the 
egg,  and  upon  my  paying  the  price  agreed  upon,  it  was 
handed  over  to  me  by  Mr.  Calvert,  who  informed  me 
that  he  had  it  from  one  Westall,  of  Porchester  or  Portland 
Terrace,  Bayswater — he  could  not  recollect  which.  I 
complained  that  this  was  not  according  to  our  agreement, 
for  that  he  had  promised  to  give  me  the  person's  address. 
I  lost  no  time,  however,  in  writing  to  each  of  the  places 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  August  18, 1860. 


44  THE  GREAT  AUK 

he  had  named,  but  received  no  reply.  Subsequently  I 
wrote  to  Captain  Burgess,  the  Secretary  of  the  United 
Service  Institution,  to  obtain  the  address  of  Captain 
Vidal,  whose  name  was  on  the  label  attached  to  the  egg, 
to  whom  I  also  applied ;  but  that  officer  having  taken 
up  his  abode  in  Canada,  it  was  not  till  the  following 
summer  that  I  received  any  reply.  When  it  did  come, 
it  was  dated  Moon  River,  Canada  West,  June  12,  1861, 
and  was  to  the  effect  that  he  had  never  given  a  Great 
Auk's  egg  to  the  United  Service  Museum. 

Later  in  the  same  year,  November  7,  1861,  the 
Council  of  the  Linnsean  Society  accepted  the  bequest  of 
Mr.  Salmon's  collection  of  eggs,  which  they  had  declined 
some  time  previously  on  account  of  certain  conditions 
attached  to  its  acceptance. 

Soon  after  it  was  found  that  no  Great  Auk's  egg  was 
contained  in  it,  and  in  its  place  was  a  Swan's  rudely 
spotted  and  blotched  with  ink.  The  conclusion  then  was 
not  difficult  to  draw.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  with 
the  view  of  putting  a  purchaser  on  the  wrong  scent,  a 
label  had  been  removed  from  some  egg  out  of  the  United 
Service  Museum  and  affixed  to  the  present  specimen. 
Whether  the  substitution  was  effected  with  the  know- 
ledge or  connivance  of  the  executor,  there  is  no  evidence 
to  show,  nor  can  I  say  whether  he  may  not  have  had  a 
perfect  right  to  part  with  this  or  any  other  specimen 
before  handing  over  the  collection  to  the  Linnsean  Society. 
He  certainly  attempted  to  make  a  bargain  with  the 
Society  for  it,  and  I  suppose  felt  justified  in  doing  so. 
Mr.  Calvert  became  possessed  of  Mr.  Salmon's  Egg- 
Catalogue,  which  he  subsequently  sold  to  Mr.  Edward 
Bidwell,  when  it  was  found  that  the  leaf  containing  the 
specimen  of  the  Great  Auk  had  been  removed  !  The 
mutilated  volume  was  transferred  by  Mr.  Bidwell  to  the 
Linnsean  Society  in  1891.* 

The  doubtful  origin  of  the  egg  and  the  questionable 

*  "  Ootheca  Wolleyana,"  pp.  373-374. 


TEN  GREAT  AUKS'  EGGS       45 

honesty  of  one  of  its  late  owners  was  a  subject  of  trouble 
to  Newton,  as  is  seen  from  an  interesting  footnote 
attached  to  the  description  of  the  egg  in  the  "  Ootheca 
Wolleyana,"  p.  376  :— 

It  would  be  absurd  of  me  to  ignore  the  fact  that 
persons  there  are,  even  among  my  friends,  who  have 
been  inclined  to  think  that  I  was  guilty  of  some  sharp 
practice  in  possessing  myself  of  this  egg.  I  trust  that 
the  plain  statement  of  facts  fully  given  above  will  remove 
any  misconception  on  that  score.  Both  before  and  since 
the  transaction,  eggs  of  the  Gare-fowl  have  turned  up  in 
a  manner  the  most  unexpected.  While  I  was  engaged 
with  Mr.  Calvert,  Mr.  Moore,  of  the  Liverpool  Museum, 
entered  the  shop  and  told  me  that  only  a  short  time  before 
he  had  discovered  a  beautiful  egg  of  Alca  impennis  in 
the  Derby  Collection  which  he,  though  he  had  been 
Curator  of  it  for  more  than  ten  years,  had  never  before 
seen.  In  or  about  the  very  same  year  two  were  found 
by  Dr.  Lepierre  in  the  Museum  at  Lausanne,  where  they 
had  lain,  since  1846  at  least,  unsuspected  ;  and  in  1861 
I  myself  found  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  no  fewer  than  ten,  which  must  have  been 
there  for  fifty  years  or  more  without  their  existence  having 
been  recognised.  There  is  therefore  nothing  at  all 
extraordinary  in  the  supposition  that  one  might  have 
been  overlooked  in  the  Museum  of  the  United  Service 
Institution,  and  it  was  only  the  facts  that  the  alleged 
donor's  name  was  affixed  to  it,  and  that  he  many  months 
after  denied  having  ever  made  such  a  gift,  which  proved 
the  story  to  be  untrue,  while  subsequently  the  disappear- 
ance of  Mr.  Salmon's  specimen  from  his  cabinet  indicated 
the  source  whence  the  present  specimen  was  derived. 

Rather  more  than  a  year  later  Newton  made  the 
greatest  discovery  of  Great  Auks'  eggs  that  ever  fell  to 
the  lot  of  a  naturalist. 

Only  fancy  a  discovery  I  made  the  other  day ;  it 
quite  took  away  my  breath  !  Going  to  Surgeons'  Hall 


46  THE  GREAT  AUK 

to  inspect  Owen's  dissection  of  a  Great  Bustard,  I  found 
Huxley  there,  who  asked  me  what  I  wanted.  He  told 
me  I  should  most  likely  find  it  in  such  and  such  a  place. 
Ascending  to  the  topmost  gallery  of  the  innermost  room, 
a  glass  case  with  birds'  eggs  met  my  eye.  After  looking 
at  one  or  two  grimy  Ostrich's  and  deformed  Turkey's 
which  might  have  belonged  to  John  Hunter,  I  saw,  as  I 
thought,  a  nice  model  of  a  Great  Auk,  next  to  it  was  a 
prickly  hen's,  and  then,  on,  on,  on,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  Great  Auk's ! !  To  cut  it  short,  there  were  ten, 
nearly  all  in  excellent  preservation,  though  one  or  two 
are  a  little  broken.  Of  course,  I  hardly  obtained  credence 
from  my  friends  ;  but  next  day  I  took  Tristram  and 
Sclater  and  Simpson,  and  we  all  four  had  the  case  opened 
and  handled  the  eggs  which  are  neatly  sealing- waxed  on 
to  boards. 

As  soon  as  my  first  emotions  by  the  way  were  over  I 
called  out  over  the  railing  to  Huxley  and  told  him  what 
I  had  discovered ;  whereupon  to  the  astonishment  of 
some  grave-looking  medical  students  in  spectacles,  he 
answered  back  that  I  was  like  Saul  who  went  out  to  seek 
his  father's  asses  and  found  a  Kingdom ;  to  which  I  could 
only  respond  that  I  hoped  I  should,  like  my  illustrious 
prototype,  succeed  in  gaining  possession  of  my  discovery. 
How  they  came  there  I  don't  know,  but  expect  to  make 
out ;  no  doubt  they  are  Iceland.  I  always  was  sure  of 
more  being  in  England  than  I  could  trace.* 

Not  one  of  those  ten  eggs  did  find  its  way  into 
Newton's  hands,  but  his  collection,  now  belonging  to  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  ultimately  contained  seven 
eggs  of  the  Great  Auk,  the  largest  number  in  any  collec- 
tion. Two  had  belonged  to  John  Wolley,  one  was  the 
specimen  obtained  from  Mr.  Calvert,  and  four  were 
presented  to  Newton  by  Lord  Lilford  in  1888.  These 
latter  four  eggs  had  been  sold  in  Edinburgh  only  eight 
years  previously  for  the  ridiculously  small  price  of 

*  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  Christmas  Day,  1861. 


HISTORY  OF  GKEAT  AUKS'  EGGS        47 

thirty-two  shillings.  The  history  and  antecedents  of  all 
the  specimens  were  minutely  investigated,  and  a  mass 
of  correspondence,  which  he  preserved,  with  people  in 
many  countries  testifies  to  Newton's  untiring  industry  in 
this  respect.  Many  of  his  correspondents  were  inaccu- 
rate, and  some  even  drew  on  their  imagination  to  give 
him  information  which  they  thought  might  appear  to  be 
true,  but  he  was  expert  in  sifting  the  grain  from  the 
chaff,  and  never  recorded  any  fact  of  the  accuracy  of 
which  he  had  the  smallest  doubt. 

It  is  very  curious  how  men  readily  accept  as  evidence 
of  history,  what  is  not  evidence  at  all.  Not  many  days 
since  I  had  a  remarkable  instance  of  this.  I  wanted  to 
find  out  what  had  become  of  the  Gare-fowl's  egg  that 
Wilmot  had  in  his  collection,  and  at  his  death  left  to  a 
friend  of  his,  Mr.  George  L.  Russell,  himself  now  dead. 
I  made  inquiries  through  a  friend,  and  in  time  got  a 
letter  telling  me  all  I  wanted  to  know  and  a  great  deal 
that  I  did  not  know ;  e.g.  that  the  egg  was  taken  by 
Wolley  on  an  island  near  Archangel  (! !).  Fortunately 
for  the  cause  of  historical  accuracy  I  have  Wilmot's  own 
testimony  that  he  bought  his  specimen  for  £5  in  1846, 
of  Leadbeater,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  its  being 
one  of  those  that  were  got  on  Eldey.* 

The  history  of  Mr.  YarrelPs  egg,  which  went  to  Mr.  F. 
Bond  and  subsequently  into  the  collection  of  Baron 
D'Hamonville,  was  investigated  by  Mr.  Harting.  Yarrell 
had  bought  the  egg  as  a  Duck's  egg  from  a  fisherwoman 
at  Boulogne  or  Paris,  and  her  story  was  that  she  had 
received  it  from  her  husband,  who  had  been  a  seaman  on 
board  a  whaler,  implying  that  it  might  have  been 
brought  from  the  Arctic  regions  This  Newton  considered 
most  improbable. 

*  Letter  to  Col.  H.  W.  Feilden,  December  1,  1884. 


48  THE  GREAT  AUK 

Magdalene  College,  Cambridge, 
March  17,  1894. 

MY  DEAR  HARTING, 

My  letter  to  D'Hamonville,  which  he  quoted  in 
the  Bulletin,  was  written  to  correct  the  statement  he 
had  made  in  the  Memoires  of  the  French  Zool. 
Soc.,  1888  (p.  225),  and  the  point  of  it  was  to  show  that 
Yarrell  had  bought  his  egg  of  Alca  impennis  in  France, 
but  whether  at  Boulogne  or  in  Paris  did  not,  for  the 
purpose  I  had  in  view,  signify — so  I  merely  expressed 
my  belief  without  turning  up  the  evidence.  It  was  only 
the  other  day  when  the  "  whaler  "  made  a  public  appear- 
ance that  the  place  where  it  was  bought  became  a  con- 
sideration of  any  importance.  Then  I  looked  into  the 
matter  with  the  result  that  you  know.  I  have  not  much 
doubt  that  old  Bond,  to  the  end  of  his  days,  honestly 
believed  that  the  Great  Auk  inhabited  the  "  Arctic 
Regions  "  ;  but  then  he  never  cared  to  inform  himself 
very  accurately  on  points  of  this  kind,  and  would  not 
recognise  the  improbability  (I  might  say  the  impossibility) 
of  a  "  whaler  "  bringing  home  one  of  its  eggs — or  even 
a  dozen  of  them. 

If  I  were  to  correct  or  refute  all  the  incorrect  stories 
about  this  bird,  which  are  published  from  time  to  time, 
I  should  have  enough  to  do.  Even  when  they  concern 
myself  I  am  generally  content  to  leave  them  alone,  just 
as  I  left  alone  an  astounding  statement  in  the  Field 
of  December  17,  1887,  about  my  discovery  of  the  ten 
eggs  in  the  College  of  Surgeons  Museum,  or  one  in  the 
Standard  of  February  23,  1894,  about  the  destruction  of 
Scales's  egg,  which  (except  the  fact  that  it  was  burnt) 
is  an  entire  fabrication  ! 

It  is  only  on  a  point  like  this  which  one  has  been 
driving  into  people  for  more  than  30  years  that  I  feel 
called  upon  to  interfere  ;  but  I  see  that  the  attempt  is 
useless ;  though  it  does  vex  me,  I  confess,  when  those 
who  ought  to  know,  and  really  do  know,  better  incon- 
siderately help  to  maintain  the  popular  delusion.  This 
delusion  was  for  a  long  while  (and  possibly  is  now)  shared 
by  Mr.  Champley  of  Scarborough,  as  I  know  that  at  one 


GARE-FOWL  BOOK  49 

time  he  was  busy  in  inquiring  of  Arctic  navigators  and 
others  who  had  been  in  the  far  north  after  Alca  impennis, 
although  the  absurdity  of  such  inquiry  had  been  demon- 
strated for  several  years. 

I  wish  there  were  the  slightest  chance  of  my  being 
able  to  finish  a  Great  Auk  book  before  I  die — but  it  is 
impossible.  Nevertheless,  I  go  on  collecting  all  the 
materials  I  can,  and  somebody  who  comes  after  me  may 
make  use  of  them.  I  think  that  two-thirds  of  such  a 
book  would  be  taken  up  by  refuting  errors  ! 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

It  was  his  purpose  to  write  a  book,  to  be  called  "  The 
Story  of  the  Gare-fowl,"  and  after  the  publication  of  the 
"  Ootheca  Wolleyana  "  he  hoped  that  he  might  have 
time  to  put  it  into  order,  but  his  life  was  not  long  enough 
for  that.  He  had  collected  during  the  course  of  fifty 
years  notes  on  every  known  specimen  of  the  bird  and  of 
its  eggs,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  some  day  this  labour 
will  be  completed. 

Every  question  connected  with  the  bird  was  of 
absorbing  interest  to  him,  not  the  least  being  that  of  the 
origin  of  its  Sightlessness.  He  was  never  fully  satisfied 
that  the  wings  of  the  Great  Auk  were  the  degenerate 
remains  of  wings,  which  in  remote  ancestors  had  been 
useful  for  flight. 

I  can't  satisfy  myself  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  Gare- 
fowl's  Sightlessness  was  produced,  and  I  suppose  I  never 
shall.  I  can  only  conjecture  that  he  found  wings  fit  for 
flight  articles  too  expensive  for  him  to  indulge  in.  If  he 
descended  from  a  Razor-bill  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine 
that  he  found  big  wings  were  not  worth  the  trouble  of 
growing  and  it  was  better  to  expend  energy  in  simply 
accumulating  bulk.  But  one  has  no  more  right  to 
assume  that  he  descended  from  a  Razor-bill  than  that 
the  Razor-bill  descended  from  him.  The  most  reasonable 


50  THE  GREAT  AUK 

conjecture  seems  to  be  that  they  had  a  common 
ancestor  who  differed  in  some  degree  from  both,  but  still 
one  would  think  that  common  ancestor  must  have  had 
the  power  of  flight.  Such  natural  enemies  as  that 
common  ancestor  (or  the  Razor-bill  for  the  matter  of 
that)  possessed  may  be  roughly  divided  into  2  categories  : 
enemies  in  the  air  or  on  land,  and  enemies  in  the  water. 
Now  in  the  water,  wings  to  an  Alcine  bird  are  chiefly 
useful  for  steering  (the  propelling  power  being  in  the 
legs)  and  a  very  little  bit  of  wing  would  do  to  steer  with, 
and  escape  from  a  grampus  or  seal  (?).  In  the  air  a  wing 
must  be  very  good  to  be  good  for  anything,  if  not  it  is 
better  not  to  fly  at  all  (witness  Wollaston's  Madeiran 
Coleoptera).  Natural  selection  would  soon  weed  out 
animals  with  moderate  wings  and  leave  those  that  had 
the  best  or  the  worst.  On  land  I  take  it  the  Gare-fowl 
had  practically  no  enemies  till  man  came  to  civilise  him. 
I  don't  say  these  views  satisfy  me,  there  may  be 
considerations  I  have  altogether  overlooked,  but  I  think 
they  may  serve  as  indications  of  something  like  the  way 
it  was  done.* 

During  the  last  years  of  his  life  he  spent  a  few  weeks 
of  almost  every  summer  on  board  the  yacht  of  his 
friend,  Henry  Evans,  of  Derby.  Most  of  their  cruises 
were  in  Scottish  waters,  and  it  was  the  keenest  delight  to 
him  to  visit  the  former  breeding-places  of  the  Great  Auk. 

May  13,  1898. 

I  am  off  on  June  17th  for  another  cruise  in  Henry 
Evans'  yacht.  I  want  to  stop  at  the  Holm  of  Papa 
Westray  and  see  the  slope  on  which  the  King  and  Queen 
of  the  Auks  used  to  hold  their  court.f 

And  a  few  weeks  later — 

We  had  a  most  glorious  day  on  the  Holm  of  Papa 

*  Letter  to  Col.  H.  W.  Feilden,  July  27,  1885. 

t  The  last  Orcadian  Great  Auk  was  killed  in  1812,  and  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum. 


VISIT  TO  ORKNEY  51 

Westray,  and  I  wished  the  whole  time  you  had  been 
there.  The  sloping  slabs  would  admit  of  a  whole 
regiment  of  Great  Auks  landing  and  marching  up  in 
extended  line  to  a  place  where  eggs  could  be  laid  in  safety, 
and  this  at  any  stage  of  the  tide  or  almost  any  conceivable 
weather — for  the  place  is  beautifully  sheltered  by  the 
covering  coast  of  Papa  Westray.* 

When,  later,  his  increasing  infirmity  prevented  him 
from  venturing  into  the  confined  space  of  a  small  yacht, 
he  often  suggested  to  others  that  they  should  explore 
coasts  and  islands  with  a  view  to  finding  what  might 
appear  to  have  been  possible  haunts  of  the  extinct  bird. 
In  the  spring  of  1907  Major  Barrett-Hamilton  f  wished 

to  visit  the islands,  as  being  a  possible  origin  of  the 

Great  Auk  remains  found  in  Ireland,  and  as  a  matter  of 
course  he  applied  to  Professor  Newton  for  advice. 

I  am  very  glad  you  have  seen  and  arranged  with 
Ussher  for  a  trip  to  those  islets,  also  that  for  you  it  will 
not  be  so  difficult  a  business.  Now  as  to  "  minute 
instructions  "  for  which  you  ask,  beyond  desiring  you  to 
run  into  no  danger — and  that  is  a  positive  order,  not  to 
be  neglected  on  any  account — I  don't  know  what  there 
is  to  be  said. 

The  question  to  ascertain  is  whether  these  rocks  may 
have  been  (as  Ussher  suggests)  a  sufficient  resort  for  the 
Gare-fowl,  at  any  time  of  the  year,  but  breeding  season 
(the  middle  of  May)  especially,  to  make  it  worth  while 
of  the  old  kitchen  midden  people  to  have  visited  them  and 
got  thence  the  plunder  of  which  Ussher  has  found  the 
remains.  Otherwise  it  is  difficult  to  understand  where 
their  birds  could  have  been  got.  From  what  we  know 
elsewhere,  Gare-fowls  are  stupid  and  easily  taken  on  land, 
but  hard  to  approach  at  sea,  and  granting  that  the  men 
had  bows  and  arrows,  they  would  not  get  them  very  easily. 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  July  1,  1898. 

t  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  M.A.,  of  Trin.  Coll.,  Camb.,  author  of 
"  British  Mammals."     Died,  South  Georgia,  1914, 


52  THE  GREAT  AUK 

Then  there  is  also  this  consideration  ;  do  these  rocks 
afford  a  place  for  a  flightless  bird  to  run  up  a  slope,  or 
even  scramble  over  a  not  too  high  ascent  to  a  place  where 
she  might  lay  her  egg  out  of  the  reach  of  the  waves  ?  On 
Eldey  the  available  space  must  have  been  small,  and  not 
over  big  on  the  sunken  Gare-fowl  skerry,  though  I  have 
no  means  of  computing  what  the  area  was  in  either  case. 
On  Holm  of  Papa  Westray,  supposing  that  I  was  right 
in  determining  the  place,  there  was  room  for  scores,  not 
to  say  hundreds,  and  on  Funk  Island  for  millions. 

If  your  Irish  locality  could  accommodate  a  score  it 
would  have  been  quite  a  creditable  place,  but  I  should 
think  that  unless  it  lodged  as  many  the  people  would 
hardly  have  found  it  worth  visiting  for  plunder.  About 
all  these  matters  you  must  use  your  own  intelligence. 
You  know  how  Razorbills  and  their  like  behave,  and  you 
must  make  allowance  for  a  bigger  sort  bereft  of  flight.* 

The  extinct  and  disappearing  faunas,  especially  of 
oceanic  islands,  had  a  peculiar  attraction  for  him,  and 
among  other  birds  in  which  he  took  the  greatest  interest 
was  the  Dodo.  By  the  fortunate  circumstance  of  his 
brother  Edward,  himself  an  accomplished  ornithologist, 
having  been  appointed  Assistant  Colonial  Secretary  of 
Mauritius  in  1859,  he  had  exceptional  opportunities  of 
acquiring  specimens  of  the  Dodo  of  Mauritius  and  the 
Solitaire  of  Rodriguez.  In  1865  the  British  Association 
appointed  him  with  Mr.  Tristram  and  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater 
to  be  a  "  Committee  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  Mr. 
E.  Newton  in  his  researches  for  the  extinct  Didine  birds 
of  the  Mascareen  Islands,  and  to  report  thereon  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Association ;  and  that  the  sum  of 
£50  be  placed  at  their  disposal  for  the  purpose."  The 
results  of  these  inquiries  were  published  in  several 
papers  in  the  Reports  of  the  British  Association  and 
Proceedings  of  the  Zoological  and  Royal  Societies.  His 

*  Letter  TO  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  May  18,  1907. 


THE  DODO  53 

article  on  the  Dodo  in  the  "  Dictionary  of  Birds  "  may  be 
cited  as  an  illustration  of  the  learning  and  the  exhaus- 
tive criticism  with  which  he  could  discuss  a  matter 
that  strongly  appealed  to  him. 

During  the  next  fifteen  years  Newton  secured 
specimens  of  the  remains  of  most  of  the  extinct  birds  of 
the  islands,  including  an  almost  complete  skeleton  of  the 
Dodo,  which  is  one  of  the  most  valued  possessions  of  the 
Cambridge  University  Museum. 

Many  years  later,  when  his  friend  Mr.  Meade- Waldo 
was  joining  Lord  Crawford  on  a  cruise  in  the  yacht 
Valhalla,  Newton  urged  him  to  remember  the  Dodo  and 
the  other  extinct  birds  of  the  Indian  Ocean  islands. 

.  .  .  There  is  not  a  single  living  thing  in  any  one  of 
the  islands  you  are  to  visit  that  is  not  of  the  highest 
importance — of  that  you  may  be  sure — and  unfortunately 
few  if  any  of  the  people  who  have  been  there  before  have 
understood  what  opportunities  they  had,  and  therefore 
have  failed  to  appreciate  them.  From  what  you  write 
I  should  think  it  very  likely  that  on  your  way  back  you 
will  call  at  Mauritius.  In  that  case  you  might  be  doing 
a  great  service  if  you  could  prevail  on  the  authorities  of 
the  Museum  there  to  entrust  to  you  the  collection  of 
Dodo's  and  other  mostly  extinct  birds'  bones  which  they 
lately  bought  of  a  M.  Thirion,  an  enthusiastic  barber, 
living  in  Port  Louis,  who  has  been  for  some  years  past 
digging  them  up  for  his  own  satisfaction — he  having  had 
the  luck  to  find  a  place  (I  have  never  known  clearly 
whether  a  cave  or  not)  which  has  been  very  prolific.  He 
made  a  great  secret  of  the  place  and  I  don't  blame  him 
for  that,  but  he  sold  all  his  "  find  "  to  the  Museum,  and 
there  it  is  with  no  one,  so  far  as  I  know,  competent  to 
describe  it.  Among  the  specimens  are  portions  of  the 
Dodo's  skeleton,  which  were  hitherto  unknown,  and  it 
is  most  desirable  that  they  should  be  described  and 
figured  properly — to  say  nothing  of  the  remains  of  other 
extinct  species,  Lophopsittacus,  Aphanapteryx,  etc.,  of 


54  THE  GREAT  AUK 

which  we  have  but  fragments.  ...  It  would  be  a  great 
thing  if  you  could  persuade  the  people  there  to  let  you 
bring  them  home  to  have  them  done — and  certainly 
there  is  no  other  place  where  they  could  be  done  properly 
except  Cambridge,  because  we  have  here  by  far  the  most 
complete  skeleton  of  the  Dodo,  and  almost  without 
exception  all  the  remains  of  the  other  birds,  which  were 
described  by  my  late  brother  Edward  and  Gadow  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Zoological  Society,  and  it  would 
be  a  pity  if  these  were  described  anywhere  else.* 

When  his  brother  Edward  was  transferred  to  the 
post  of  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Jamaica,  Newton  was 
enabled  to  make  a  valuable  collection  of  the  birds  of  that 
and  other  West  Indian  islands.  It  was  mainly  due  to 
Newton  also  that  the  "  Sandwich  Islands  Committee  " 
of  the  British  Association  was  formed  and  the  fast 
vanishing  fauna  of  that  region  studied. 

As  an  East  Anglian  Newton  was  naturally  greatly 
interested  in  another  extinct  (so  far  as  Britain  is  con- 
cerned) bird,  the  Great  Bustard,  or  as  he  liked  to  call  it, 
the  Norfolk  Bustard,  which  had  vanished  from  this 
country  during  his  own  lifetime.  Though  there  were 
still  a  few  birds  lingering  in  Norfolk  in  the  "  thirties," 
particularly  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  father's  estate 
of  Elveden,  it  is  doubtful  if  Newton  ever  saw  a  native 
Bustard  alive.  He  made  an  attempt  to  see  a  bird 
between  Cambridge  and  Ely  in  1856,  but  was  too  late. 

Last  week  I  was  at  Cambridge,  and  there  heard  a 
report  that  a  Bustard  had  been  seen  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. I  accordingly  went  to  Burwell  Fen,  in  company 
with  my  brother  and  a  gentleman  interested  in  Orni- 
thology, and  on  searching  a  field  of  coleseed  we  found 
several  feathers  which  were  most  undoubtedly  those  of 
the  Great  Bustard.  The  gentleman  who  accompanied 
us  had  been  there  a  few  days  before  and  had  not  only 

*  Letter  to  E.  G.  B.  Meade- Waldo,  October  29,  1905. 


NORFOLK  BUSTARD  55 

then  found  more  feathers  but  had  seen  a  good  many 
foot-prints  which  could  only  have  been  those  of  that  bird. 

I  saw  several  men  at  work  in  the  fen,  and  gathered 
from  them  that  they  had  several  times  seen  a  "  Wild 
Turkey  "  (as  they  called  it)  :  according  to  one  man's 
account,  it  had  been  there  from  shortly  after  Christmas 
until  the  last  few  days,  but  another  man  who  said  he 
thought  he  had  seen  it  before  any  one  else,  was  of  opinion 
that  the  time  it  had  haunted  the  fen  was  not  more  than 
three  weeks.  However,  in  the  main  points  they  all 
agreed,  and  leave  one  to  entertain  no  doubt  but  that  for 
some  weeks  a  Great  Bustard  had  frequented  that  locality. 
They  were  very  accurate  in  their  description  of  the  bird  ; 
one  man  compared  the  markings  on  the  back  and  wings 
to  a  viper,  saying  that  "  it  was  dappled  like  a  snake  "  ; 
another  said  it  "made  a  wonderful  roarin'  with  its  wings" 
when  it  flew  over. 

I  was  there  on  Thursday,  the  6th  inst.,  and  on  the 
preceding  Saturday  it  had  been  shot  at  by  a  gunner, 
but  only  with  a  common  hand-gun,  and  as  the  bird  was 
more  than  100  yards  off,  it  doubtless  escaped  unhurt. 
I  was  unable  to  make  out  satisfactorily  whether  it  had 
been  seen  since  that  day,  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
it  took  the  gunner's  hint  and  departed.  Since  then  I 
have  heard  nothing  new,  though  my  brother  who  has 
been  at  Cambridge  until  within  the  last  day  or  two,  has 
made  unceasing  inquiries.  I  therefore  sincerely  hope 
that  it  has  altogether  escaped  and  that  it  will  not  in 
consequence  help  to  fill  the  blood-stained  pages  of  the 
Natural  History  Magazines.* 

Twenty  years  later,  in  the  company  of  Mr.  J.  E. 
Harting  and  others,  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  see  a 
Bustard  alive  in  England.  Mr.  Harting  writes  : — 

A  brief  mention  should  be  made  of  the  pleasure  we 
both  experienced  in  seeing  a  real  wild  Bustard  in  a 
Norfolk  fen.  In  Feb.  1876,  Mr.  H.  M.  Upcher,  of 

*  Letter  to  T.  Southwell,  March  14,  1856. 


56  THE  GREAT  AUK 

Sheringham,  unexpectedly  found  one  (a  male  bird)  on 
his  property  in  Blackdyke  Fen,  Hockwold,  and  by  means 
of  letters  to  neighbouring  landowners,  and  the  dis- 
semination of  printed  notices,  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
prevent  its  being  shot.  Steps  to  provide  it  with  a  mate 
were  taken  by  the  late  Lord  Lilford.  In  company  with 
Mr.  Upcher  and  a  few  privileged  friends  we  had  the 
satisfaction  of  watching  the  movements  of  the  illustrious 
visitor  and  seeing  the  hen  bird  turned  out  in  the  same 
field  of  coleseed  with  it ;  but  the  weather  being  very 
inclement  at  the  time,  the  hen  bird  was  accidentally 
drowned  in  a  fen  dyke,  and  the  male  after  a  stay  of  seven 
weeks  disappeared. 

During  more  than  fifty  years,  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  Newton  collected  details  of  the  history  of  the 
Great  Bustard,  more  especially  with  reference  to  its 
extinction.  He  amassed  an  immense  amount  of  in- 
formation which  was  to  take  form,  some  day,  in  a  book 
to  be  called  "  The  Bustard  in  Britain,"  but  he  was  never 
satisfied  with  the  completeness  of  his  material,  and  the 
book  still  awaits  an  editor. 

Attempts  have  been  made,  from  time  to  time,  to 
reintroduce  the  Great  Bustard  into  Great  Britain,  but 
none  of  them  have  been  successful.  Amongst  those  who 
made  the  experiment  was  Prince  Dhuleep  Singh,  the 
owner  of  Elveden  Hall. 

Bloxworth,  August  31, 1874. 

MY  DEAR  LILFORD, 

I  have  little  doubt  that  if  you  were  the  owner 
of  Elden  you  would  be  successful  in  introducing  the 
Bustard,  while  I  don't  believe  that  Dhuleep  Singh  ever 
will  be. 

As  regards  the  migration  of  Bustards  formerly  in 
England  I  have  always  been  in  doubt.  Neither  in 
Norfolk  nor  Suffolk  did  they  ever  seem  to  have  appeared 
in  their  usual  abundance  in  the  shooting  season.  I 
think  I  stated  this  in  the  notes  with  which  I  furnished 


THE  BUSTARD  57 

Stevenson,  but  I  have  not  got  his  2nd  volume  with  me 
here.  Indeed,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection,  I  could 
never  hear  of  but  one  well-established  instance  of  a 
Bustard  being  seen  between  harvest  time  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  New  Year.  This  was  a  young  bird  shot  by 
the  late  Sir  Alexander  Grant  (an  old  friend  of  my  father's) 
at  Elden  in  September. 

What  became  of  the  birds  in  the  meantime  I  have  no 
idea,  but  early  in  January,  quite  regardless  of  snow  or 
frost,  they  used  to  be  seen  on  the  brecks  and  so  remained 
till  the  corn  (rye)  hid  them  in  the  summer. 

The  question  of  polygamy  is  also  a  dark  point  in 
their  history. 

As  to  the  southern  distribution  of  the  species,  I  never 
saw  an  African  specimen,  and  I  have  sometimes  been 
inclined  to  doubt  whether  the  big  Bustard  of  Algeria, 
etc.,  might  not  be  Otis  arabs,  which  you  know  poor  Drake 
got  in  Morocco  (Ibis;  1867,  p.  424). 

Yours  in  haste, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

When  Mr.  Harting  was  preparing  his  edition  of 
"  White's  Selborne  "  (published  in  1875),  he  included  in 
it  Gilbert  White's  allusions  to  the  Bustard,  hitherto  un- 
published, and  sent  the  proofs  to  Newton  for  his 
comments. 

Bloxworth,  Blandford, 

August  22,  1874. 

MY  DEAR  HAKTING, 

You  will  see  by  the  "  proof  "  which  I  now 
return  of  the  notes  for  your  edition  of  "  White's  Selborne" 
that  I  have  read  it  pretty  attentively,  and  have  not 
hesitated  to  suggest  several  changes  in  it  of  more  or  less 
importance. 

Those  of  the  greatest  consequence  are  such  as  relate 
to  Black  Game  and  Bustard. 

It  has  always  puzzled  me  to  account  for  White's 
having  said  that  the  former  had  become  extinct  since 
his  boyhood.  The  species  has  existed  I  imagine  always 


58  THE  GREAT  AUK 

in  the  wild  heathery  tract  which  extends,  with  even  now 
but  few  interruptions,  from  beyond  the  parish  in  which 
I  write  to  Surrey — the  tract  which  you  will  see  laid  down 
on  any  geological  map  as  the  "  Bagshot  Sand."  Sup- 
posing that  the  species  did  for  a  time  become  extinct  in 
any  one  portion  of  this  district  it  would  speedily  find  its 
way  to  its  old  haunts,  so  well  suited  to  it,  from  the 
remainder. 

You  may  certainly  have  some  authority  for  saying 
that  it  was  "  introduced  "  to  Wolmer  Forest — but  with- 
out direct  evidence  to  that  effect  I  should  rather  attribute 
its  reappearance  (supposing  White  to  be  right  in  saying 
that  it  had  disappeared)  to  natural  causes.  But  even 
when  White  wrote  Letter  VI. — which  I  think  we  may 
put  at  or  near  1789,  the  date  of  publication — (for  I 
imagine  that  the  first  few  letters  were  an  after-thought, 
and  expressly  written  by  way  of  introduction  to  the 
published  work,  while  the  later  ones  were  no  doubt  real 
letters) — a  Grey  Hen  had  been  seen  two  years  before  only 
— and  then  there  is  the  celebrated  "  Hybrid  Pheasant  " 
sent  to  him  by  Lord  Stawell  from  Alice  Holt,  subsequently 
to  1789,  whose  existence  required  that  of  a  Black  Grouse 
of  one  sex  or  the  other.  Thus  I  am  inclined  to  doubt 
White's  statement  as  to  its  extinction  in  1789. 

As  regards  Bustards — the  birds  which  from  time  to 
time  appear  in  England  are  unquestionably  of  foreign 
extraction.  Nothing  in  the  world  can  be  clearer  than 
the  extinction  of  the  British  race.  Norfolk  was  their 
last  stronghold,  but  in  the  south  of  England  they  were 
gone  long  before. 

These  remarks  are  simply  to  explain  the  alterations 
I  have  suggested  on  your  "  proof." 

I  believe  there  is  no  good  authority  for  the  use  of  the 
word  "  nest  "  as  a  verb,  and  hence  I  have  altered  it. 

In  any  natural  history  work  I  should  always  recom- 
mend the  printing  of  the  English  names  of  species  with  a 
capital  letter.  They  are  in  such  cases  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  proper  names,  and  should  be  so  distinguished, 
but  I  have  not  marked  them  on  the  "  proof  "  for  altera- 


ACCLIMATISATION  AND  EXTERMINATION  59 

tion.    Printers  to  save  themselves  trouble  decry  the  use 
of  capitals,  but  within  limits  it  is  very  desirable. 
Yrs.  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

Although  the  re-introduction  of  the  Capercaillie  into 
Scotland  had  been  so  successful,  Newton  never  quite 
approved  of  these  experiments,  which  he  regarded  rather 
as  attempts  at  acclimatisation,  and  of  that  he  wrote  : — 

Everything  relating  to  what  is  called  Acclimatisation 
is  hateful  to  me,  but  I  do  think  it  is  just  possible  that  if 
Strix  umlensis  were  introduced  into  this  country,  it 
might  be  of  some  use  to  check  the  Rat  plague,  and  as 
Rats  themselves  are  interlopers  it  might  be  fair  to  use 
aliens  against  them. 

In  the  light  of  the  Little  Owl  plague  at  the  present 
time,  it  is  fortunate  that  that  experiment  also  failed. 

All  questions  of  the  extinction  of  animals  concerned 
him  very  closely  (vide  the  article  "  Extermination  "  in 
the  "  Dictionary  of  Birds"),  and  in  an  address  delivered 
to  the  British  Association  at  Glasgow  in  1876,  he  described 
in  his  own  peculiar  way  the  consequences  of  unconsidered 
acclimatisation. 

What  if  a  future  "  Challenger  "  shall  report  of  some 
island,  now  known  to  possess  a  rich  and  varied  animal 
population,  that  its  present  fauna  has  disappeared  ? 
That  its  only  Mammals  were  feral  Pigs,  Goats,  Rats  and 
Rabbits — with  an  infusion  of  Ferrets,  introduced  by  a 
zealous  "  acclimatiser  "  to  check  the  super-abundance 
of  the  rodents  last  named,  but  contenting  themselves 
with  the  colonists'  chickens  ?  That  Sparrows  and 
Starlings,  brought  from  Europe,  were  its  only  Land- 
birds,  that  the  former  had  propagated  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  cultivation  of  cereals  had  ceased  to  pay — the 
prohibition  of  bird-keeping  boys  by  the  local  school 
board  contributing  to  the  same  effect — and  that  the  latter 


60  THE  GREAT  AUK 

(the  Starlings)  having  put  an  end  to  the  indigenous 
insectivorous  birds  by  consuming  their  food,  had  turned 
their  attentions  to  the  settlers'  orchards,  so  that  a  crop 
of  fruit  was  only  to  be  looked  for  about  once  in  five 
years — when  the  great  periodical  cyclones  had  reduced 
the  number  of  the  depredators  ?  that  the  Goats  had 
destroyed  one  half  of  the  original  flora  and  the  Rabbits 
the  rest  ?  that  the  Pigs  devastated  the  potato  gardens 
and  yam-grounds  ?  This  is  no  fanciful  picture.  I 
pretend  not  to  the  gift  of  prophecy ;  that  is  a  faculty 
alien  to  the  scientific  mind  ;  but  if  we  may  reason  from 
the  known  to  the  unknown,  from  what  has  been  and 
from  what  is  to  what  will  be,  I  cannot  entertain  a  doubt 
that  these  things  are  coming  to  pass  ;  for  I  am  sure  there 
are  places  where  what  is  very  like  them  has  already 
happened. 

None  of  those  who  were  present  are  likely  to  forget 
the  occasion,  one  evening  in  Newton's  rooms,  when  a 
young  man  interrupted  an  interesting  talk  about  the 
fate  of  (it  may  have  been)  Moas  with  the  rather  large 
question  :  "  Why  do  birds  become  extinct  ?  "  The 
Professor  replied  without  hesitation,  "  Because  people 
don't  observe  the  Game  Laws ;  see  Deuteronomy  xxii. 
6."  The  conversation  languished  after  that  and  we  soon 
returned  to  our  various  colleges,  where  we  looked  up  his 
reference  and  read — 

If  a  bird's  nest  chance  to  be  before  thee  in  the  way 
in  any  tree,  or  on  the  ground,  whether  they  be  young 
ones,  or  eggs,  and  the  dam  sitting  upon  the  young,  or 
upon  the  eggs,  thou  shalt  not  take  the  dam  with  the 
young. 

But  thou  shalt  in  any  wise  let  the  dam  go,  and  take 
the  young  to  thee ;  that  it  may  be  well  with  thee,  and  that 
thou  mayest  prolong  thy  days. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    ISIS 

FOR  some  years  it  had  been  the  custom  for  a  number  of 
naturalists,  most  of  them  members  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  and  all  of  them  interested  in  the  study  of 
Ornithology,  to  meet  together  once  a  year  or  oftener,  for 
the  discussion  of  various  topics  and  the  exhibition  of 
objects  of  interest.  These  "  conferences,"  as  they  were 
called,  were  highly  appreciated  by  those  who  attended 
them,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1857  at  the  meeting  which 
was  held  (as  usual)  in  Newton's  rooms  at  Cambridge,  it 
was  suggested  that  it  would  be  advisable  to  establish  a 
magazine  devoted  solely  to  Ornithology.  In  the  following 
year  a  number  of  ornithologists  met  at  the  British 
Association  meeting  at  Leeds,  when  they  decided  to  meet 
again  at  Cambridge  in  November  and  discuss  the  question 
of  the  magazine.  Accordingly  a  meeting  was  held  in 
Newton's  rooms  at  Magdalene  on  November  17,  1858, 
when  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

1.  That  an  Ornithologists'  Union  of  twenty  Members 

should  be  formed,  with  the  principal  object  of 
establishing  a  new  Journal  entirely  devoted  to 
Birds. 

2.  That  Lt.-Col.  H.  M.  Drummond  should  be  the 

President  and  A.  Newton  the  Secretary  of  the 
Union,  and  that  P.  L.  Sclater  should  edit  the 
Journal. 

No  official  record  of  the  meeting  was  made,  but  it 
seems  to  be  fairly  certain  that  eleven  people  were  present. 

61 


62  THE  IBIS 

As  an  instance  of  my  forgetfulness  I  could  have  taken 
oath  that  Gurney  was  present  at  the  Conference  at 
Cambridge  in  October,  1858,  when  we  founded  the 
Ibis — or  Avis  as  was  to  have  been  its  name.  Now  I  find 
from  looking  at  old  letters  that  Gurney  was  not  at  the 
Conference  of  1858,  though  he  had  intended  to  be  there, 
but  had  to  go  to  a  funeral  somewhere  else.  He  had 
been,  however,  at  a  former  Conference,  that  of  1857  I 
suppose.  Those  present  in  1858  so  far  as  I  can  make  out 
were  yourself,  Drummond,  P.  L.  Sclater,  and  E.  C. 
Taylor  whom  he  brought  down,  the  Godmans,  Salvin, 
Sealy,  Simpson,  and  A.  and  E.  N. — eleven  in  all.  I 
think  any  letters  of  that  period  are  worth  keeping,  for 
no  doubt  the  institution  of  the  Ibis  had  a  very  remark- 
able effect  on  Ornithology  all  the  world  over.  Alas  that 
the  poor  old  bird  should  nowadays  fly  so  feebly,  and  yet 
I  quite  believe  that  its  youth  might  be  renewed,  if  proper 
steps  were  taken.* 

Newton  was  very  definite  in  declaring  that  not  all 
of  these  were  the  founders  of  the  Union. 

Don't  forget  that  E.  N.  [Edward  Newton]  was 
emphatically  one  of  the  founders  of  the  B.O.U.,  which 
is  a  good  deal  more  than  being  only  one  of  the  original  20. 
I  have  always  looked  on  the  founders  as  : — 

Drummond. 

Tristram. 

Newtons  (2). 

Salvin. 

Godmans  (2). 

The  rest — Sclater,  Gurney,  and  Wolley  included — 
were  asked  to  join  us. 

The  Editor  and  the  Secretary  lost  no  time  in  making 
arrangements  for  the  new  magazine,  and  Messrs.  Taylor 
and  Francis  agreed  to  print  it.  The  head  of  the  latter 
firm,  Dr.  William  Francis,  suggested  the  name  Ibis, 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  January  2,  1888. 


H'.  <fc  D.  Downey. 
SIR  EDWARD    NEWTOX,    K.C.M.G. 


FOUNDATION  OF  B.O.U.  63 

and  Joseph  Wolf,*  a  friend  of  Newton,  was  commissioned 
to  draw  the  figure  of  the  Sacred  Bird,  which  has  always 
adorned  the  cover  of  the  journal. 

I  owe  you  many  apologies  for  not  having  written  to 
you  before,  but  I  have  been  so  very,  very  busy. 

I  hope  things  are  promising  for  the  Ibis  ;  we  nearly 
lost  Wolley  f  through  the  change  of  name,  but  I  trust 
he  is  appeased.  His  name  is  such  a  tower  of  strength 
that  we  could  not  set  up  to  be  Ornithologists  of  the  first 
water  without  his  co-operation.  As  for  the  name  itself,  I 
don't  think  it  signifies  £0-0-2,  and  "  Ibis  "  is  as  good  as 
any  other ;  does  it  not  signify  "  You  will  go,"  i.e.  to  the 
ends  of  the  world,  and  in  fact  the  Ibis  is  one  of  the  most 
cosmopolitan  of  genera.  I  regard  it  in  this  light,  and 
not  in  the  way  Wolley  does,  as  a  thing  with  a  long  bill, 
apt  to  be  shut  up  in  cellars  for  thousands  of  years,  with 
no  life  about  it  at  all.  I  look  upon  it  too  as  the  scourge 
of  reptiles ;  the  harbinger  of  that  source  of  wealth  and 
abundance,  the  overflowing  of  the  river  of  knowledge  ; 
and  therefore  I  recommend  Ibidiculture  to  all  my  friends, 
reminding  them  at  the  same  time  to  say  nothing  against 
the  sacred  bird,  for  fear  of  the  laws  of  the  land  of  Egypt 
being  put  in  force  in  this  country :  vide,  Herodotus, 
Euterpe,  chap.  65.J 

The  first  number  of  the  Ibis,  which  was  ready  in 
January,  1859,  contained  an  article  by  Newton  and  his 
brother  Edward  on  the  birds  of  St.  Croix,  West  Indies, 
the  results  of  their  visit  to  the  island  in  1857.  As  the 
editor,  P.  L.  Sclater,  was  away  during  the  early  part  of 
that  year,  and  was  shortly  afterwards  appointed  to  the 
arduous  post  of  Secretary  to  the  Zoological  Society, 
Newton  busied  himself  with  the  work  of  getting  con- 
tributors to  write  articles  for  the  new  Journal.  The 

*  "  My  friend  Mr.  Wolf,  whose  supreme  excellence  as  a  zoological  artist 
was  only  equalled  by  his  readiness  to  oblige  any  one  who  appreciated  good 
work." — "  Ootheca  Wolleyana,"  Introduction,  p.  vi. 

t  J.  W.  wanted  the  magazine  to  be  called  "  Avis." 

J  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  December  10,  1858. 


64  THE  IBIS 

first  number  was  received  with  a  chorus  of  praise  by 
contemporary  journals,  so  Newton  tried  to  induce  others 
to  write  less  favourable  comments,  lest  the  young  society 
should  become  too  much  filled  with  satisfaction.  Mr. 
A.  C.  Smith,  who  was  not  yet  a  member,  was  asked  by 
Newton  to  write  a  letter  to  the  Zoologist  picking  holes  in, 
or  pulling  feathers  out  of,  the  Ibis,  and  in  reply  to  his 
complaint  that  he  had  no  fault  to  find  with  the  magazine 
he  received  the  following  letter  : — 

But  your  objection  that  you  do  not  know  what  to 
find  fault  with  in  the  Ibis  is  indeed  not  valid.  Nothing 
can  be  easier.  It  is  printed  8vo  size  ;  it  ought  to  have 
been  4to  to  have  allowed  the  plates  to  be  larger,  or  12mo, 
that  it  would  have  been  easier  to  hold  in  the  hand.  It 
ought  to  be  published  monthly  or  bi-monthly,  or  half- 
yearly,  or  annually  ;  anything  but  quarterly.  There  is 
a  want  of  unity  about  the  design,  or  its  contents  display 
page  after  page  a  sameness  which  palls  upon  the  reader. 
Its  price  is  too  high  for  the  ornithological  public,  or  it  is 
too  low  to  enable  justice  to  be  done  to  the  plates.  No 
publication  of  the  sort  was  wanted  at  all,  or  that  the 
void  which  every  one  felt  existed  has  by  no  means  been 
filled  by  the  Ibis.  Or,  to  go  into  particulars,  that  the 
Ornithology  of  Central  America  is  far  too  dry,  the  birds 
of  St.  Croix  too  flippant.  Mr.  E.  C.  Taylor's  paper  on 
Egyptian  Ornithology  is  only  a  rechauffe  of  what  had 
already  appeared  in  the  Zoologist.  (N.B. — Taylor  says 
he  sent  his  list  of  birds  to  Newman  with  remarks  upon 
them,  as  afterwards  printed  in  the  Ibis,  but  Newman  cut 
them  all  out,  except  one  about  the  Egyptian  Vulture's 
feet,  and  printed  the  bare  list  in  the  Zoologist.)  Mr. 
Wolley  devotes  whole  articles  to  the  finding  of  a  bird's 
nest  as  if  no  one  had  ever  done  such  a  thing  before.  Mr. 
Simpson  is  as  bad.  Messrs.  Sturge  and  Evans  thought 
because  they  went  so  far  as  Spitzbergen,  therefore  it  was 
necessary  that  everybody  else  should  be  interested  about 
them.  Mr.  Gurney's  contributions  are  mere  lists  of  what 
his  collectors  send  him.  Messrs.  Salvin  and  Tristram 


THE  IBIS  65 

vary  so  in  their  accounts  of  the  same  things  that  one 
knows  not  which  to  believe  ;  or  that  they  both  agree  so 
exactly  that  it  must  be  the  result  of  a  previous  determina- 
tion to  do  so,  and  hence  their  testimony  is  valueless.  The 
remarks  on  the  Harlequin  Duck  are  full  of  misprints, 
and  that  the  author's  notions  of  geography  are  exceed- 
ingly singular,  when  he  speaks  of  "  Europe  with  the 
exception  of  Iceland  and  Western  Asia."  That  Mr. 
Hewitson's  contribution  has  spoiled  a  good  supplement 
to  his  work.  That  the  Editorial  articles  are  merely  a 
display  of  knowledge,  and  that  the  review  of  Bree's 
book  is  ill-natured  in  the  extreme,  or  that  it  does  not 
detect  half  the  faults  in  that  very  inaccurate  publication. 
That  the  subject  of  British  Ornithology  is  entirely  passed 
over  by  the  Ibis,  or  that  British  Ornithology  should  be 
left  entirely  to  other  magazines.  That  the  scientific 
principles  enunciated  are  merely  the  old  ones  always 
known,  or  they  have  a  most  startling  and  unpleasant 
novelty  ;  or  that  there  are  no  scientific  principles  at  all. 
That  there  is  a  horrible  taint  of  heresy  about  the  whole 
matter,  or  that  the  writers  are  far  too  orthodox  for 
zoologists  in  these  days. 

Here  is  a  string  of  objections,  any  one  of  which  may 
be  harped  upon,  or  all  at  once  according  to  the  fancy  of 
the  player ;  for  a  reviewer  may  be  allowed  to  bring  contra- 
dictory charges,  as  in  certain  actions  contradictory  pleas 
are  used,  first  "  not  guilty  "  and  then  "  justification."  * 

A  question  which  greatly  exercised  the  minds  of  the 
founders  of  the  Ibis  was  that  of  a  suitable  motto  for  the 
Journal.  Sclater  sought  eagerly  for  one  in  the  classics, 
but  not  finding  one  that  was  appropriate  he  composed  a 
line  : — 

Ibimus  incolumes  tutique  sub  "  ibide  "  sacra. 

Newton  writes  :    "  I  have  suggested  to  him  as  being 
better : — 

'  I  semel  in  terras,  ibis  sub  nomine  et  Ibis 
Sed  quacunque  ibis,  floreat  "  Ibis  "  ibi.'  " 

*  Letter  to  A.  C.  Smith,  July  18,  1859. 


66  THE  IBIS 

Finally,  it  was  decided  that  the  motto  for  the  first 
series  of  the  Ibis  should  be  : — 

Ibimus  indomiti  venerantes  Ibida  sacram, 
Ibimus  incolumes  qua  prior  Ibis  adest. 

This  did  not  meet  altogether  with  Newton's  approval. 

The  Ibis  motto  as  it  now  is  I  confess  I  do  not  under- 
stand, but  it  is  not  worth  while  bothering  about,  and  I 
have  never  intimated  my  disapproval  to  Sclater.  I  think 
I  told  you  that  Knox  showed  mine  to  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford  (Stubbs),  and  he  very  much  approved  of  it, 
though  no  doubt  there  was  a  solecism  in  the  grammar. 

Though  he  was  not  at  any  time  a  very  frequent  con- 
tributor of  articles  to  the  magazine,  Newton  did  much 
work  in  reviewing  books  and  in  other  ways  greatly 
assisted  Sclater,  whom  he  succeeded  as  editor  of  the 
second  series  of  the  Ibis  (1865  to  1870).  He  was  very 
keen  on  starting  discussions,  so  in  1865  he  got  G.  D. 
Rowley  to  write  an  article  about  the  Cuckoo,  or,  as  he 
always  spelt  it,  Cuckow,  and  then  asked  A.  C.  Smith  to 
write  a  letter  of  disagreement,  thinking  that  "  it  will 
make  people  take  a  greater  interest  in  the  journal  in 
which  it  appears."  He  did  not  want  articles  to  be 
"  scientific  catalogues,  but  rather  readable,  written  in  a 
simply  unaffected  way."  To  a  correspondent  who  com- 
plained that  the  Ibis  went  out  of  his  depth  he  replied  that 
he  doubted  it,  "  but  if  it  does  you  must  learn  to  swim — 
and  the  process  is  easy  when  you  have  made  up  your 
mind  to  it,  for  our  Holy  Fowl  is  a  typical  wader  and  its 
legs  are  not  so  very  long  after  all." 

His  period  of  editorship  was  a  time  of  strenuous  work 
and  of  rapidly  increasing  responsibilities,  so  that  he  was 
unable  to  undertake  the  third  series,  which  was  edited 
by  Osbert  Salvin.  Many  years  afterwards,  writing  to  an 
old  friend  who  lay  dying,  he  recalled  the  early  struggles 
of  the  Ibis. 


CANON  TRISTRAM  67 

February  26,  1906. 

MY  DEAR  TRISTRAM, 

If  the  letter  I  have  just  received  is  really  to  be 
the  last  I  am  to  have  from  you,  as  therein  foreshadowed, 
there  could  not  be  one  more  gratifying  to  my  feelings, 
and  I  am  at  a  loss  for  terms  in  which  to  answer  it.  I 
can  never  forget  the  steady,  friendly,  I  may  say,  brotherly 
support  I  have  invariably  received  from  you,  and  if  it 
were  my  good  fortune  to  have  done  you  a  good  turn  in 
the  matter  of  the  Royal  Society,  a  circumstance  that 
had  wholly  passed  from  my  mind,  it  was  but  a  slight 
return  for  the  aid  you  rendered  in  starting  the  B.O.U. 
and  the  Ibis,  and  again  at  the  critical  moment  when  our 
first  Editor  threw  up  the  job,  and  (with  one  or  two  more) 
would  not  have  been  sorry  had  it  come  to  an  end.  It 
was  your  Palestine  papers  that  to  a  very  great  extent 
caused  the  success  of  the  second  series  of  the  Ibis  ;  not 
that  I  would  overlook  the  value  of  the  help  I  had  from 
Blyth,  Swinhoe,  and  others.  Their  articles  were  of  great 
scientific  interest,  but  they  failed  in  the  qualities  for 
reading,  while  your  articles  possessed  both  merits. 

There  are  few  things  I  look  back  to  with  greater 
satisfaction  than  my  six  years'  editorship  of  the  Ibis, 
but  that  was  entirely  due  to  my  contributors,  among 
whom  you  were  chief,  and  one  on  whom  I  could  always 
rely. 

I  can't  trust  myself  to  write  more,  and  indeed  you 
might  easily  be  tired  with  more.  It  must  indeed  have 
been  a  comfort  to  you  to  have  had  all  your  children 
round  you  on  Saturday,  and  so  I  say  farewell,  and  God 
be  with  you  till  you  are  with  Him. 

Yours  as  always, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

Henry  Baker  Tristram,  Canon  of  Durham,  was  a 
friend  and  frequent  correspondent  of  Newton's  for  several 
years  before  the  foundation  of  the  B.O.U.,  of  which  he 
was  an  original  member.  That  Newton  had  a  very 
strong  affection  for  him  is  shown  by  his  action  "  in  the 


68  THE  IBIS 

matter  of  the  Royal  Society,"  which  is  explained  by  the 
following  letter,  written  ten  days  before  his  death. 

The  College,  Durham, 

February  25,  1906. 

MY  DEAR  NEWTON, 

It  is  utterly  impossible  to  get  out  of  your  debt 
epistolary,  as  I  have  found  ever  since  that  unparalleled 
act  of  friendship  many  years  ago,  when  you  took  off  your 
name  from  the  Royal  Society  in  order  to  secure  my 
election.  When  one  looks  back  through  the  long  vista  of 
years  there  is  nothing  I  have  found  to  equal  it  for  self- 
sacrifice  and  generosity.  But,  that  apart,  there  is  only 
one  sense  of  generous  fraternity.  I  am  glad  to  deliver 
my  soul. 

In  my  present  state  of  health  the  political  outlook 
hardly  interests  me,  for  I  am  very  ill.  The  doctor  stays 
in  the  house  with  me  generally  all  night,  as  I  suffer  from 
breathlessness,  but  I  have  had  the  comfort  of  having  my 
family,  eight  children  and  my  sons-in-law  gathered  round 
me  yesterday. 

Before  my  attack  became  worse  I  was  able  to  enjoy 
two  papers  in  the  Ibis  on  Ross'  Rosy  Gull  and  the 
Scotch  Antarctic,  as  well  as  to  glance  at  my  old  friend 
Mr.  Whitaker's  Tunisia,  which  resuscitated  many 
interests  of  bygone  years.  I  dare  say  this  may  be  my  last 
letter. 

Your  sincere  old  friend, 

H.  B.  TRISTRAM. 

Tristram  was  distinguished  as  a  traveller,  a  naturalist, 
and  an  antiquary.  He  devoted  himself  particularly  to 
the  ornithology  of  Northern  Africa,  about  which  he  wrote 
several  most  interesting  papers  in  the  early  numbers  of 
the  Ibis,  and  of  Palestine,  which  he  visited  several  times 
and  described  in  published  volumes.  In  those  countries 
he  made  many  ornithological  discoveries,  and  his  sudden 
and  unexpected  departures  were  a  constant  source  of 
mystification  to  his  friends,  among  whom  he  was  known 


INTEREST  IN  IBIS  69 

as  the  "  Sacred  Ibis  "  or  the  "  Great  Gun  of  Durham." 
He  was  during  all  his  life  an  indefatigable  collector,  and 
his  birds  and  eggs,  almost  the  largest  collection  ever 
amassed  by  one  man,  are  now  in  the  Liverpool  and 
South  Kensington  Museums. 

I  saw  a  long  letter  from  Tristram  to  Sclater  from 
Jerusalem,  in  which  he  says  they  have  done  wonders. 
If  all  he  advances  is  true  they  must  have  got  some  twenty 
new  species  of  birds.*  Among  other  things  he  has  found 
the  descendants  of  the  Ravens  that  fed  Elijah,  and  they 
are  previously  undescribed  except  by  the  author  of  the 
Book  of  Kings.  In  future  they  are  to  stand  as  Corvus 
Elice,  Tristram.  I  have  only  to  hope  that  Asinus 
balaami  and  Cetus  jonce  will  also  be  found,  f 

After  the  end  of  his  term  of  office  as  editor  of  the 
Ibis  Newton  no  longer  took  an  active  part  in  managing 
the  affairs  of  the  B.O.U.,  but  his  interest  in  the  Society 
never  failed,  though  he  disapproved  of  certain  modern 
innovations,  and  his  advice  was  constantly  sought  by 
successive  editors  of  the  Journal.  There  were  times 
when  it  appeared  that  the  editors  had  not  very  carefully 
read  the  articles  they  published,  and  these  occasional 
lapses  seldom  escaped  him  : — 

The  Ibis  for  the  past  year  has  certainly  been  dis- 
tinguished by  some  crackers.  It  was  only  yesterday  I 
heard  from  Legge,  who  drew  my  attention  to  a  curious 
statement  at  p.  143  : — 

"  On  the  top  of  trees  in  Celebes,"  says  Meyer,  "  builds  the  Whimbrel." 
Then  De  Meyer  is  a  1 — r  :  proclaim  it  with  a  timbrel ! 

It  was  unfortunate  that  he  would  never  be  persuaded 
to  approve  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Club,  which  was 

*  One  of  the  birds  discovered  on  that  journey  was  Tristram's  Grakle 
(Amydrus  tristrami),  which  he  found  in  the  rocky  gorges  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
f  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  March  25,  1864. 


70  THE  IBIS 

founded  in  the  late  "nineties."  He  was  accustomed  to 
call  by  a  most  uncomplimentary  name  those  monthly 
meetings  and  dinners  which  have  done  so  much  to 
advance  the  study  of  ornithology  and  to  promote  good 
fellowship  among  its  votaries. 

One  of  the  original  "  Ibises  "  and  the  first  of  them  to 
die,  in  November,  1859,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six 
years,  was  Newton's  friend,  John  Wolley.  Shortly  before 
his  death  he  requested  that  his  zoological  collection,  the 
formation  of  which  had  latterly  been  his  chief  occupation, 
should  be  handed  over  to  Newton,  and  this  wish  was 
fully  carried  out  by  his  father.  The  collectons  were  sent, 
in  February,  1860,  from  Beeston  to  Newton's  home  at 
Elveden. 

There  were  twenty-four  enormous  packages,  which 
weighed  altogether  one  ton  and  filled  a  railway  truck 
— not  a  single  breakage !  After  consulting  on  the 
subject  with  P.  L.  Sclater,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
I  should  be  most  advantageously  serving  the  interest  of 
Ornithology  by  publishing  from  Mr.  Wolley's  note-books 
a  complete  catalogue  of  the  contents  of  his  egg-cabinet. 
Mr.  Wolley's  life  had  been  one  of  so  active  a  nature,  and 
his  death  was,  until  a  few  weeks  before  it  took  place,  so 
entirely  unexpected,  that  he  had  had  but  few  opportuni- 
ties of  making  known  to  the  world  the  results  of  his 
labours.  To  prevent  those  results  from  being  lost  to 
science  was  my  main  object ;  and  it  appeared  to  me  that 
this  would  be  effectually  attained  by  the  publication  of  a 
Catalogue  such  as  the  present,  which  should  embrace  as 
far  as  possible  all  the  information  he  had  gathered,  which 
is  extracted  from  letters  to  his  friends,  from  fragmentary 
diaries,  or  from  detached  memorandums,  as  well  as  that 
which  was  contained  in  his  "  Egg-book  " — this  latter 
being  the  principal  record  of  his  experience,  and  having 
been,  with  some  few  exceptions,  most  carefully  kept  for 
many  years. 

In   order   to  make    the    catalogue    more   complete 


"OOTHECA  WOLLEYANA"  71 

Newton  added  descriptions  of  specimens  he  received 
subsequently  and  of  the  specimens  in  the  collection 
belonging  to  his  brother  Edward  and  himself. 

The  First  Part  of  the  "  Ootheca  Wolleyana,"  as  the 
catalogue  was  called,  was  published  early  in  1864,  and 
in  his  Preface  Newton  announced  his  intention  of  pub- 
lishing the  Second  Part  on  the  1st  of  December  of  the 
same  year.  Circumstances,  however,  long  delayed  the 
preparation  of  the  work,  and  it  was  not  until  1902  that 
Part  II.  appeared,  followed  closely  by  Parts  III.  and  IV. 
(the  last)  in  1905  and  1907.  Though  this  long  postpone- 
ment was  somewhat  irritating  to  the  expectant  sub- 
scribers, the  succeeding  parts  gained  greatly  in  value  by 
the  delay,  in  that  Newton  was  able  to  include  eggs  which 
had  always  baffled  Wolley's  efforts.  A  great  number  of 
these  additional  specimens  were  obtained  by  Wolley's 
collector  Knoblock,  whom  Newton  kept  in  his  own  pay 
for  several  years.  Another  circumstance  which  greatly 
added  to  the  extent  of  the  work  was  that,  whereas 
Wolley's  collection  was  confined  to  European  species, 
Newton  decided  to  extend  its  limits  to  those  of  the 
western  half  of  the  Palaearctic  Regions,  as  being  a  district 
more  naturally  defined  : — 

My  foreign  correspondence  is  growing  awkwardly 
large,  and  yet  I  must  increase  it,  for  I  am  bent  upon 
having  every  egg  that  is  to  be  got  before  the  publication 
of  the  "  O.W."  and  I  am  trying  to  make  Greenland,  Spain, 
India,  and  Russia  disgorge  their  ovarian  possessions. 

In  a  "  Retrospective  Note  "  (November  20,  1906) 
Newton  wrote : 

Thankful  as  I  am  at  being  able  to  complete  this 
work,  my  feeling  is  rather  of  regret  than  satisfaction,  for, 
owing  to  the  length  of  time  which  has  elapsed  since  the 
first  part  of  it  appeared,  so  few  of  Mr.  Wolley's  personal 
friends  are  left  to  see  its  conclusion,  and  this  Catalogue 


72  THE  IBIS 

is  largely  a  record  of  ancient  friendships.  My  only  con- 
solation is  that  the  protracted  delay  has  not  been  my  own 
fault,  as  I  can  honestly  say  that  whenever  the  cessation 
of  more  important  duties  gave  me  opportunity,  I  resumed 
my  labour  of  love,  but  again  and  again  months — not  to 
say  years — passed  without  such  opportunity  recurring.* 

The  "  Ootheca  Wolleyana  "  has  been  well  described  as 
a  monumental  work,  and  that  it  was  very  truly  a  "  labour 
of  love  "  may  be  seen  from  the  concluding  paragraph  of 
the  "  Memoir  "  in  Part  II. 

To  describe  John  Wolley's  character  at  any  length 
has  not  been  my  intention.  I  have  tried,  without  the 
desire  of  unduly  exalting  the  value  of  any  branch  of 
Natural  Science,  to  give  in  outline  the  chief  events  of  a 
life  which,  if  the  study  of  God's  creatures  deserves 
encouragement,  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  uselessly 
spent,  for  it  added  not  inconsiderably  to  our  knowledge 
of  them,  and,  if  unswerving  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
Truth  merits  any  praise,  must  be  admitted  to  have  been 
honourably  passed.  The  facts  narrated  here  and  in  the 
following  pages  are  left  to  speak  for  themselves  :  on 
them  must  Wolley's  reputation  rest.  It  would  add  little 
to  them  to  state  that,  in  the  various  capacities  of  relative, 
friend,  and  companion,  there  was  little  wanting  in  him, 
for  such  encomiums  are  too  often  applied  without  due 
cause.  His  good  qualities  are  treasured  in  the  recollec- 
tion of  those  who  knew  him — now,  alas  !  dwindled  to  a 
small  number — and  especially  of  that  one  of  them  to 
whom  he  gave  the  last  token  of  his  esteem.  Having 
endeavoured  (how  imperfectly  no  one  knows  better  than 
myself)  to  discharge  a  duty  owing  to  the  memory  of  a 
deeply  lamented  comrade,  I  cannot  conclude  this  sketch 
without  an  expression  of  gratitude  at  having  been 
permitted  to  share  so  largely  the  intimacy  and  confidence 
of  such  an  upright  man. 

*  "  Ootheca  Wolleyana,"  Preface. 


CHAPTER  VI 

VISIT   TO    SPITZBERGEN 

THOUGH  the  emoluments  of  the  Drue  Drury  Fellowship 
were  very  meagre,  Newton  continued  to  do  what  was 
considered  in  those  days  a  considerable  amount  of 
travelling.  After  he  was  elected  to  the  Fellowship  in 
1855  he  had  visited,  as  we  have  seen,  Lapland,  the  West 
Indies,  Boston,  and  Iceland.  In  the  autumn  of  1859  he 
went,  by  way  of  Paris,  where  he  saw  the  Jardin  des 
Plantes,  to  Copenhagen,  to  see  his  brother  Francis  Rodes 
Newton. 

This  was  merely  a  visit  of  pleasure,  and  he  records  in 
a  letter  to  his  brother  Edward  a  hunting  party  of  a  kind 
which  is  now  extinct. 

One  day  we  went  over  to  Saroe  to  assist  at  a  chasse. 
Frank  was  made  to  take  a  gun  and  killed  his  only  objet, 
a  roe-deer.  There  were  17  guns  and  about  50  beaters, 
.the  latter  armed  with  clappers.  They  drove  a  large 
extent  of  forest,  the  guns  being  placed  at  "  Stations," 
but  the  bag  was  limited  :  5  Roedeer,  3  Hares,  and  12 
Foxes  !  It  was  worth  seeing  once.  All  the  "  hunters  " 
got  up  extensively  with  game  bags,  couteaux  de  chasse, 
etc.  If  a  man  comes  late  he  gets  fined,  and  so  also  if 
he  doesn't  hold  his  gun  up,  misses  a  shot,  shoots  what 
is  not  game,  etc.  Everything  is  conducted  according  to 
rule,  and  people  look  as  grave  about  it  as  if  they  were  at 
a  funeral.  The  head  forester  reads  out  the  return  after 
each  drive,  and  at  the  end  of  the  day  announces  the 
fines.  A  fat  Swedish  Count  was  very  heavily  mulcted 
for  killing  a  Brown  Owl.* 

*  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  October  13,  1859. 
73 


74  VISIT  TO  SPITZBERGEN 

Most  of  his  journeys  were  short  trips  to  cities  on  the 
Continent,  where  he  visited  the  local  museums  and  made 
the  acquaintance  of  their  curators.  In  1860  he  went  to 
Holland  and  Belgium,  and  in  the  summer  of  1861  to 
Germany  : — 

I  have  not  much  to  record  of  my  wanderings.  The 
weather  last  week  was  insufferably  hot,  provoking  one  to 
all  manner  of  maniacal  acts,  even  beyond  those  of  which 
the  British  tourist  is  usually  guilty.  I  did  nothing  in 
the  way  of  Ornithology  until  I  arrived  in  its  Yaterland, 
for  so  really  Germany  must  be  considered.  I  passed  a 
pleasant  afternoon  with  Blasius  at  Brunswick,  whom  I 
like  much  as  a  man,  but  I  am  not  sure  that  the  very 
high  opinion  of  him  as  a  naturalist  I  had  formed  from 
his  writings  is  altogether  carried  out  on  further  acquaint- 
ance. Perhaps,  however,  his  judgment  is  too  profound  to 
get  to  the  bottom  of  it  in  some  few  hours.  I  had  a  hearty 
welcome  from  Baldamus,  at  whose  parsonage  I  passed  a 
night,  much  pleased  with  his  exceeding  earnestness  and 
simplicity.  At  Berlin,  I  found  in  Cabanis  the  German 
Sclater,  skilled  in  the  most  abstruse  mysteries  of  the 
science,  to  whom  you  and  I,  poor  wretches,  are  but  as 
mere  proselytes  of  the  gate,  but  a  very  agreeable  fellow 
to  meet,  the  vivacity  of  the  Frenchman  overpowering  the 
Teutonic  stolidity.  Blasius  did  me  the  honours  of  the 
University  collection  at  Brunswick,  and  also  of  his  own 
private  one,  which  is  rich  in  N.  Asiatic  specimens.  Bal- 
damus' egg-cabinet  is  capital,  nevertheless  I  can  regard  it 
without  jealousy,  though  in  numbers  of  species  he  must 
far  excel  me.  Of  the  wealth  of  the  Berlin  Museum  I  need 
not  speak,  for  it  is  well  known.  Berlin  itself  seems  the 
most  terribly  sleepy  place  I  have  seen  for  a  long  time. 
It  would  puzzle  the  very  fastest  young  man  to  find  any- 
thing of  a  Spree,  barring  the  river,  and  that  is  one  of  a 
most  sluggish  nature.  But  the  buildings  are  beautiful. 
I  arrived  here  last  night,  or  rather  early  this  morning, 
after  a  most  tedious  journey,  and  have  spent  the  day  in 
the  picture  gallery,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  giving  way 


HOLY  ORDERS  75 

to  feelings  of  Mariolatry,  brought  on  by  my  introduction 
to  the  Madonna  del  Sisto,  of  which  I  could  not  write 
without  raving.* 

The  following  year  (1862)  was  marked  by  a  decision 
which  affected  profoundly  his  subsequent  career.  It  had 
always  been  his  intention — with  how  much  enthusiasm 
we  do  not  know — to  take  holy  orders,  and  he  was  to  have 
been  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  Ely  in  Advent.  On  his 
return  from  a  short  visit  to  the  West  Indies  in  October 
and  November,  he  decided  to  abandon  the  idea.  It  is 
probable,  as  Dr.  Shipley  says,  that  this  decision  "  made 
for  peace  in  the  Established  Church  "  ;  it  is  certain  that 
the  decision  made  for  the  progress  and  encouragement 
of  Biology.  It  is  equally  certain  that  he  did  not  himself 
regret  it  later. 

Miss  Strickland,  perhaps,  was  not  so  very  far  wrong 
in  supposing  me  to  be  a  parson — for  a  good  many  years 
I  looked  forward  to  that  being  my  lot,  but  I  am  never 
sufficiently  thankful  that  it  was  not ;  though  in  the 
point  of  worldly  goods  I  should  probably  have  been  a 
comparatively  rich  man.  In  these  days  of  rising  prices 
fixed  incomes  are  a  terrible  institution.! 

It  was  the  custom,  though  it  was  not  a  strict  condi- 
tion, for  the  holder  of  the  Drury  Fellowship  to  take 
orders,  so  when  Newton  made  this  decision  he  at  once 
offered  to  relinquish  the  Fellowship,  but  the  Master  of 
Magdalene  J  allowed  him  to  hold  it  until  it  expired  on 
March  25,  1863.  "  This  is  the  last  day  I  shall  ever  be 
able  to  consider  myself  Fellow  of  Magdalene,§  my 
fellowship  ceasing  this  Lady  Day,  and  henceforth  Norfolk 
Fellows  are  as  clean  gone  as  Norfolk  Bustards." 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram.    Dresden,  August  22,  1861. 
t  Letter  to  Mrs.  Strickland,  November  9,  1872. 
j  Hon.  and  Rev.  Latimer  Neville,  afterwards  9th  Lord  Braybrooke. 
§  Newton  was  elected  in  1877  to  a  Professorial  Fellowship  at  Magdalene, 
which  he  held  until  the  time  of  his  death. 


76  VISIT  TO  SPITZBERGEN 

In  the  meantime  Newton's  father  had  died,  and  his 
home  at  Elveden  was  sold  to  the  Maharaja  Dhuleep  Singh. 
"  We  are  much  disappointed  at  the  price  this  place 
fetched.  His  Highness  got  it  £5000  under  the  actually 
appraised  value,  and  I  dare  not  say  how  much  under 
what  we  put  it  at ;  so  that  our  Sikh  has  not  proved  such 
a  great  find  after  all."  Newton  had  the  greatest  affection 
for  the  place  where  he  had  been  brought  up,  and  he 
could  never  be  persuaded  to  revisit  it.  Ten  years  later, 
when  he  was  staying  with  Lord  Walsingham  at  Merton  : 

Dhuleep  Singh  came  over  and  we  all  went  to  Stanford 
Mere.  About  a  month  before  he  went  shooting  ducks 
there  and  wading  lost  a  diamond  said  to  be  worth  between 
£2000  and  £3000  from  a  ring,  and  this  he  wants  to  find. 
Accordingly  they  have  let  the  waters  off  to  lay  dry  the 
line  he  took,  and  the  soil  is  to  be  taken  up,  stacked  like 
peat  and  sifted  !  .  .  .  Really  in  a  very  delicate  way  he 
asked  me  if  I  would  go  and  stay  at  Elden,  saying  he 
should  be  glad  to  see  any  of  the  family,  but  I,  of  course, 
told  him  there  would  be  as  much  pain  as  pleasure  in 
doing  so,  and  this  he  seemed  fully  to  appreciate. 

Excepting  a  short  visit  to  Belgium  in  the  summer  of 
that  year,  the  greater  part  of  1863  was  spent  in  family 
business  and  in  moving  his  belongings  and  his  own  and 
Wolley's  collections  to  Cambridge,  which  was  thence- 
forward to  be  his  permanent  home. 

When  some  thirty  years  hence  a  discerning  Minister 
of  Public  Worship  ascertains  that  you  will  be  the  right 
man  in  the  right  place  if  seated  on  the  throne  of  Canter- 
bury (or  say  York,  if  you  are  not  too  fastidious),  you  will 
then  find  that  the  sifting  of  thirty  years'  Natural  History 
accumulations  is  a  labour  of  that  kind  which  people  who 
are  not  afflicted  with  hay-fever  say  "  is  not  to  be  sneezed 
at."  You  will  therefore  I  hope  duly  value  these  few 
lines,  written  amid  an  abomination  of  desolation.  Tow 
was  perhaps  known  in  the  days  of  Hercules,  but  cotton 


UNPACKING  EGGS  77 

wool  certainly  was  not,  and  I  am  sure  he  would  not  have 
performed  the  labour  Augaeus  set  him,  had  he  been 
suffering  from  acute  chortismus  aggravated  by  breathing 
an  atmosphere  so  thickly  charged  with  lino-byssal  fila- 
ments, that  you  might  almost  roll  up  an  egg  with  safety 
in  it.  Under  such  circumstances  I  proceed  to  answer 
your  letter.  I  only  wonder  I  am  not  driven  quite  mad 
and  do  not  dream  I  am  a  Gare-fowl's  egg  about  to  be 
involved  in  a  winding  sheet  of  cotton  wool  and  stored 
away  for  ever  in  the  inmost  and  most  secure  compartment 
of  one  of  my  yellow  Lapland  coffers.* 

In  the  summer  of  the  following  year  he  joined  his 
friend  Edward  Birkbeck  (afterwards  Sir  E.  B.)  in  a 
voyage  to  Spitsbergen.  Nowadays  that  island  may  be 
visited  every  summer  by  any  tourist  who  likes  to  pay 
sufficient  gold  to  Messrs.  Cook,  but  in  the  early  "  sixties  " 
the  voyage  was  a  difficult  and  indeed  a  somewhat 
perilous  undertaking,  and  the  story  of  Newton's  adven- 
tures, told  in  the  following  letters  to  his  brother  Edward, 
has  a  certain  historical  value. 

Sultana,  E.T.Y.C.,  Hammerfest, 

June  30,  1864. 

Here  I  am  once  more  at  the  place  which  I  think  I 
hate  most  in  the  world  ;  but  I  am  bound  to  say  that  my 
second  stay  here  has  been  more  agreeable  than  my  first 
was  ;  for  in  1855  the  snow  was  only  beginning  to  go,  and 
it  rained  or  snowed  ten  days  out  of  the  eleven  I  passed 
here.  Now  the  snow  is  all  but  gone  and  the  weather 
really  pleasant.  To-day  it  is  actually  hot  and  I  am 
writing  this  with  my  waistcoat  open  while  on  deck  ;  the 
sun  is  powerful  enough  for  anything,  though  there  is  a 
good  S.E.  breeze.  Yesterday  the  post  steamer  from  the 
south  arrived  bringing  me  a  cheery  letter  from  M.  and 
yours  of  the  1st  May.  Before  I  answer  this,  however,  I 
will  tell  you  of  our  outward  voyage.  We  left  Lowestoft 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  July  11,  1863. 


78  VISIT  TO  SPITZBERGEN 

on  the  1st  June  and  arrived  at  Aberdeen  on  the  4th. 
There  we  had  to  take  in  various  stores,  water,  etc.,  and 
did  not  get  away  till  the  morning  of  the  7th.  We  had  a 
fair  wind  to  start  with,  but  it  dropped  towards  the  after- 
noon, and  then  we  had  a  succession  of  head  winds,  calms, 
fogs,  etc.,  so  that  we  did  not  sight 'the  cost  of  Norway 
(Bremangerland)  until  the  afternoon  of  the  9th.  That 
night  we  were  blown  off  again  with  half  a  gale,  and  then 
had  a  repetition  of  calms,  etc.,  so  that  we  did  not  get 
into  Christiansund  until  the  13th.  We  sailed  again  the 
next  day,  having  got  a  coast  pilot,  and  on  the  20th  reached 
Svolvaer  on  one  of  the  Lofoten  islands.  There  we  took 
another  pilot  as  far  as  Tromso,  and  then  a  third  to  this 
place,  where  we  arrived  on  the  26th,  being  a  victim  to 
head  winds  and  calms  the  whole  way ;  most  provoking 
when  time  has  been  an  object.  The  next  day  Birkbeck 
set  to  work  about  getting  a  jagt  to  accompany  us  to 
Spitzbergen.  Luckily  there  was  one  nearly  ready,  and 
still  more  luckily,  though  she  was  built  for  the  purpose, 
she  has  never  yet  made  a  voyage,  so  we  shall  be  spared 
the  sickening  stink  of  putrid  blubber.  She  is  to  be  (and 
I  think  will  be)  fit  by  the  day  after  to-morrow,  when  I 
hope  we  shall  sail  in  company  for  the  Sound.  Arrived 
there  we  shall  go  on  board  her  and  leaving  the  yacht  in 
a  safe  place  proceed  to  do  as  best  we  can.  The  accom- 
modation on  board  the  Semmoline  is  as  you  may  suppose 
not  very  luxurious.  She  is  about  40  tons,  one  cabin  only, 
large  enough  for  four  people  to  lie  down  in,  but  not  high 
enough  to  stand  up  in.  The  fo'castle  allows  of  four 
hammocks  being  slung ;  we  have  ten  men  as  crew,  so 
where  the  fifth  who  is  not  on  watch  will  sleep  I  don't 
know,  or  Ludwig  (whom  I  mean  to  take  on  board)  either  ! 
but  I  suppose  they  will  manage  it  somehow.  There  is  a 
small  stove  in  the  after  cabin,  at  which  we  must  cook, 
and  we  have  two  whale-boats  to  be  manned  by  four  men, 
— one  of  whom  is  a  harpooner, — each.  It  will  be 
roughish  work,  but  we  shall  enjoy  the  comfort  of  the 
Sultana  all  the  more  when  we  get  back.  I  am  not  at  all 
sanguine  as  to  my  success  in  things  ornithological ;  our 


VOYAGE  TO  HAMMERFBST  79 

tedious  voyage  here  has  lessened  the  chance  of  eggs 
almost  to  nil,  and  according  to  Malmgren  (the  ornitholo- 
gist of  the  Swedish  expedition,  begun  some  three  years 
ago  and  still  being  carried  on)  the  good  things  that  have 
been  reported  from  Spitzbergen  are  fabulous  ;  neither 
Lams  sabini  nor  L.  rossi  have  ever  revealed  themselves 
to  him. 

The  hire  of  our  jagt  for  two  months  costs  Birkbeck 
£200,  but  this  is  to  cover  all  expenses,  and  leave  the  entire 
catch  in  his  hands,  which  may  be  worth  some  £40  or  £50. 
It  is  supposed  to  be  a  cheap  bargain.  Lament's  expedi- 
tion must  have  cost  him  a  good  deal  more,  and  when 
young  T.  Thornhill  went  with  Ld.  Dunmore  they  paid 
£120  for  six  weeks,  and  only  six  men  and  one  boat.  All 
the  people  here  are  now  crazy  about  shark  fishing.  Last 
year  it  was  very  productive  between  the  N.  Cape  and 
Bear  Island,  and  our  jagt  was  going  there  had  not  Birk- 
beck hired  her.  One  or  two  vessels  have  already  returned 
with  full  cargoes  and  are  off  again.  This  place  looks  more 
thriving  than  it  did  nine  years  ago,  but  yet  the  largest 
"  house  "  smashed  some  twelve  months  since.  Wolley's 
old  friend,  Andreas  Berger,  the  man  who  used  to  declare 
he  had  sailed  to  the  north  of  83°,  has  taken  to  drink  and 
has  been  sent  by  his  brothers  to  America,  where  he  now 
serves  in  the  U.S.  Navy.  There  are  only  about  three 
people  that  I  remember  formerly,  and  no  one  that  I  care 
about.  As  yet  we  have  done  nothing  ornithological.  I 
sent  Ludwig  out  one  day  here  to  get  some  ptarmigan, 
they  are  very  large  on  this  island,  but  he  returned  without 
seeing  a  bird.  He  is  off  again  to-day  at  his  own  request, 
and  I  think  means  to  distinguish  himself. 

Our  party  continues  to  be  a  very  pleasant  one.  The 
Dr.  (Wagstaff  by  name)  and  Lorange,  the  interpreter,  both 
good  fellows  in  their  way,  and  Manners  Sutton  great  fun 
at  times.  Birkbeck  is  rather  too  quiet  and  it  is  difficult 
at  times  to  make  out  if  he  is  not  greatly  bored  with  the 
whole  thing.  I  dare  say  that  occasionally  he  feels  the 
want  of  the  constant  occupation  he  has  been  accustomed 
to,  and  certainly  being  on  board  a  sailing  vessel  in  a 


80  VISIT  TO  SPITZBERGEN 

dead  calm  when  you  are  in  a  hurry  is  not  a  cheerful 
business  ;  but  I  like  him  altogether  very  much.  I  only 
wish  he  would  smoke,  an  accomplishment  he  is  not  equal 
to,  though  here  it  is  almost  a  positive  duty  ;  for  nothing 
can  be  more  disgusting  than  the  smell  of  boiling  blubber 
on  shore ;  or  if  that  operation  is  not  going  on,  there  is 
always  stock-fish. 

Trondhjem, 

September  7,  1864. 

We  have  returned  actually  without  any  one  of  our 
party  setting  eyes  upon  a  Bear,  a  Walrus,  or  what  to  my 
mind  was  as  bad,  even  a  Lagopus  hemileucurus  !  Nor  in 
the  egg  way  has  my  success  been  even  tolerable.  Not  a 
single  Grey  Phalarope's, — I  never  saw  but  one  bird  alive, 
but  I  believe  it  is  not  otherwise  than  numerous,  though 
extremely  local.  The  only  point  on  which  I  think  I  have 
determined,  and  which  is  of  any  importance,  is  that  the 
large  species  of  Goose  which  frequents  the  Sound  (and  I 
dare  say  other  localities)  is  the  Pink-footed  Goose  ;  but 
even  of  this  I  was  unable  to  get  an  adult  specimen, 
though  I  saw  two  in  the  possession  of  Malmgren,  the 
Swedish  naturalist,  who  was  up  there  with  the  Scientific 
Expedition.  All  the  same  I  shall  never  repent  of  having 
gone,  still  less  of  having  taken  Ludwig  with  me.  It  is 
almost  a  new  world  to  have  seen.  I  must  also  record 
among  our  captures  nearly  50  Reindeer,  and  about  a 
dozen  Seals,  mostly  large  ones. 

Now  that  you  may  understand  our  movements  I  must 
draw  you  a  map,  for  there  is  not  one  in  existence  that 
can  be  at  all  relied  on,  and  we  have  been  to  many  places 
which  have  never  yet  been  mapped  at  all. 

Cambridge,  September  25,  1864. 

The  day  after  I  dispatched  my  letter  to  you  from 
Hammerf est,  I  went  out  to  sail  and  shoot  in  Hammerfest 
Bay.  We  saw  a  large  flock  of  Long-tailed  Ducks,  and  I 
got  4  at  3  shots  ;  they  did  not  appear  to  be  breeding,  but 
were  immature  birds  that  had  never  properly  moulted. 


TO  SPITZBERGEN  81 

2'    the    &»«»<**,    the 


Wo™,/*16  -TS*  £  July  2'  the  &»«»<**,  the 
Norwegian  ^  ;  that  Birkbeck  hired,  got  under  way 
we  followed  the  next  morning  (Sunday,  the  3rd)- 
hwf  71  Straednaes,  or  in  case  of  the  Stor  Fjord  beL 
blocked  Ice  Sound-with  Stabbel,  who  was  pilot  on! 


voyag  r  the  ^  tirae  on 


othil  jU?PTd  *°  u6  near,Bear  Mand,  but  we  saw 
Snm      fl  V*nWaS  hazy;    larSe  quantities  of  birds 
*e  ~  to  be  Cerent 


6th.    No  observation  ;  sighted  land  (Syd  Cap)  about 
5.30  p.m.,  bearing  N.E.  ;  6  p.m.,  much  drift  ice  ;  7  p.m. 

foomNN'wV  1^"  ThlTe  ice  siS^ed,  'bearing 
trpm  N.N.W  to  S.E.,  and  quite  high,  indicating  that  Stoi 
Fjord  was  choked  ;  accordingly  Altered  course  to  N  W 
Of  course,  the  first  meeting  with  the  ice  was  immense 

atlTwt  !  ,  eVerJb°dy  T^06^  ^ti  ^Vt™ 
at  the  wheel,  and  a  wonderful  sight  it  was  to  see  the 


3?          "'  '"'  "'""  " 

July  7:    Thick  and  no  observation.    9am 


i,  J  a.m.     Un  neanng  Bell  Sound  found  it  full 

G 


82  VISIT  TO  SPITZBERGEN 

of  ice.  2.40  a.m.,  stood  out ;  fresh  breeze  and  tumbling 
sea.  5  a.m.,  hove-to ;  thick  with  snow,  very  cold. 
4  a.m.,  air  33°,  water  31°  !  10.30  a.m.  spoke  the  Lisa 
of  Hammerfest  who  reported  Ice  Sound  clear  and  gave 
us  a  shoulder  of  venison.  Afternoon,  sighted  land. 
4  p.m.,  S.  point  of  Ice  Sound  bearing  E.S.E.  ;  fresh 
breeze.  7  p.m.,  sighted  entrance  to  Ice  Sound,  two  or 
three  belts  of  drift  ice  right  across.  8.30,  passed  through 
1st  (or  1st  and  2nd)  belt ;  Captain  and  pilot  steering 
the  ship  from  the  rigging.  10  p.m.,  passed  through  2nd 
belt  (or  3rd),  which  was  not  so  thick,  but  heavier.  Birds 
innumerable  begin  to  show  themselves ;  mostly  Brun- 
nich's  Guillemot,  Northern  Puffin,  and  Little  Auk,  a  herd 
of  White  Whales,  their  ivory  whiteness  contrasting 
prettily  with  the  colours  of  the  ice,  which  was  dazzling 
white  and  all  shades  of  green  and  blue.  11.30  p.m.,  lost 
the  breeze,  lowered  both  boats  to  tow  the  ship.  Occasional 
floes  of  ice,  covered  with  Glaucous  Gull,  Kittiwake,  and 
Fulmar,  passing  quite  close  to  the  shore  on  N.  side  of 
Sound.  Under  the  Alkenhorn  saw  flocks  of  Geese, 
Brent,  and  a  larger  species  ;  lots  of  Eider  Ducks.  Ropes 
slightly  frozen  although  the  sun  was  shining  brightly — 
not  exactly  on  us. 

July  9,  2.20  a.m.  Came  to  anchor  in  Safe  Haven, 
found  schooner  from  Tromso  with  Swedish  Expedition 
on  board.  Lorange  and  I  went  to  call  and  knocked  up 
Duner,  the  astronomer.  His  colleagues  Nordenskjold  and 
Malmgren  had  been  absent  12  days  up  the  Sound  in  a 
boat ;  he  supposed  they  were  beset,  but  was  not  uneasy 
about  them.  10  a.m.,  Birkbeck  and  Manners  Sutton  in 
cutter  with  pilot  and  two  hands  to  Coal  Bay,  which  they 
found  full  of  ice.  (They  returned  next  morning  with  3 
Deer  and  a  Red-necked  Phalarope.)  Before  they  started 
I  saw  the  first  Ivory  Gull,  which  got  a  piece  of  meat  from 
the  Swede  and  came  and  ate  it  on  a  block  of  ice  close  by. 
M.  Sutton  shot  it  with  my  gun.  The  Doctor,  Lorange, 
and  I  with  Ludwig  to  land  under  Alkenhorn.  I  shot 
some  Fulmars,  Glaucous  Gull,  N.  Puffin,  etc.  I  made 
Ludwig  walk  along  near  the  shore,  in  hopes  of  getting 


FOXES,  EIDERS,  AND  REINDEER         83 

Geese  ;  but  he  saw  none.  I  took  a  higher  line,  where  the 
walking  seemed  better,  but  it  was  extremely  bad  going — 
bogs  and  big  stones.  Dr.  and  L.  tried  to  get  up  the  cliff  ; 
found  it  impossible.  We  all  met  for  luncheon  about  a 
mile  or  so  from  the  point,  and  I  watched  a  Snow  Bunting 
to  its  nest,  which  we  got  after  hard  work  ;  4  eggs,  2  much 
damaged.  Ludwig  soon  after  found  another ;  6  eggs, 
ready  to  hatch.  He  then  tried  to  get  up  the  cliff  to  the 
East  of  the  Horn,  and  thought  it  accessible  with  a  rope. 
Myriads  of  Guillemots  and  Little  Auks.  Foxes  perpetu- 
ally barking  on  cliff.  L.  saw  one  but  could  not  get 
within  shot.  Home  to  Sultana  and  after  dinner  row 
towards  Glacier  at  head  of  Haven  ;  shot  Little  Auk,  and 
L.  had  another  Fox-hunt,  over  loose  snow  with  slippers 
on  !  Swede  sends  us  a  Deer. 

July  10,  Sunday.  M.  Sutton  and  I  with  Ludwig 
went  to  the  Eiderstone,  got  about  60  eggs,  all  fresh  ; 
later  in  the  day  some  of  the  crew  went  again  and  got 
about  30  more,  and  the  last  thing  at  night  Ludwig  went 
off  once  more  and  brought  back  12 !  Constant  ice-falls 
like  thunder  all  day. 

July  11.  Another  jagt  from  Tromso  put  in  early. 
Birkbeck  hired  a  whale-boat  and  crew,  in  which  he,  M. 
Sutton,  and  Lorange  set  off  to  the  South  side  of  the 
Fjord ;  the  Dr.  and  I  following  in  the  skiff  manned  by 
three  of  the  Sultana's  crew.  A  fine  day  with  fresh  breeze 
in  middle  of  Fjord  ;  good  deal  of  ice  coming  down.  Dr. 
shoots  at  a  big  seal  which  was  lying  asleep  on  a  floe,  but 
the  brute  woke  up  and  rolled  off  into  the  water  just 
before  the  bullet  struck  the  ice.  The  whale-boat  beats 
us  hollow,  but  we  overtook  her  as  they  landed  to  prospect 
a  valley  opening  E.  of  the  true  Alkenfels.  No  Deer  in  it ; 
then  on  to  another  valley  where  3  Deer  were  seen.  I 
crawled  up  with  Birkbeck  within  rifle  shot  of  them,  but 
he  missed  !  I  had  no  rifle  at  all  and  I  never  shot  at  a 
deer,  as  I  did  not  think  Horace's  old  gun  would  be  safe 
with  a  bullet.  Subsequently  the  Tromso  jagtsman  killed 
one.  We  brought  a  tent  on  shore  and  camped  out  in 
"  Birkbeck  Dale."  M.  Sutton  made  a  good  fire  with 


84  VISIT  TO  SPITZBEKGEN 

drift  wood  and  proved  to  be  a  very  good  cook.  Ice  in 
evening  coming  down  Fjord  and  getting  aground  just 
below  our  camp.  Very  cold  at  night.  Guillemots  and 
Little  Auks  flying  high  overhead  to  cliffs  3  or  4  miles 
inland. 

July  12.  In  boats  to  Advent  Bay.  Found  an  old 
Russian  Hut  with  smoke  coming  out  of  chimney.  On 
landing  found  3  Norwegians,  who  with  7  others  had  been 
shipwrecked  off  Pr.  Charles'  Foreland  about  six  weeks 
before  ;  the  other  7  had  gone  on  board  a  jagt  they  met. 
These  three  came  on  here  to  shoot  Deer.  They  looked 
pretty  happy,  though  one  had  a  frightful  abscess  on  his 
arm.  They  had  lost  their  reckoning  and  asked  the  day 
of  the  month  and  week  !  Saw  Deer  on  other  side  of  Bay. 
Birkbeck  and  M.  Sutton  after  them  in  skiff.  B.  missed 
again.  Dr.  Lorange,  and  I  in  whale-boat  towards  head 
of  Bay,  find  some  fast  ice  and  a  flock  of  Brent ;  I  had  a 
shotwith  M.  S.'s  big  rifle,  but  missed.  Lots  of  Eiders  and 
N.  Puffins.  Just  as  we  came  to  land  saw  3  deer  on  hill 
not  500  yards  off.  Two  minutes  after  Birkbeck  came 
round  stalking  them ;  M.  S.  and  Norwegian  followed. 
Birkbeck  knocked  over  two,  right  and  left,  but  one  got 
up  again  and  with  the  third  trotted  off  slowly  towards  a 
pass  where  the  Norwegian  lay.  He  killed  the  unwounded 
one  and  then  showing  himself  drove  the  wounded  deer 
down  to  where  I  was  with  the  Dr.  and  Lorange.  The 
latter  got  tremendously  excited  and  though  it  was  quite 
clear  the  poor  beast  was  done  for,  could  not  be  restrained 
from  shooting  it  again,  hitting  it  in  the  haunch  !  Im- 
mediately afterwards  he  rushed  upon  it  with  his  rifle 
clubbed  to  hit  it  on  the  head,  but  Birkbeck  and  I  called  at 
him  so  that  he  gave  up  that  idea  and  took  to  stoning  it. 
At  last  the  Dr.  came  up  and  throwing  the  beast  stuck  it. 
After  that  we  pitched  the  tent.  B.  again  went  after 
another  deer,  but  returned  without  a  shot.  Just  before 
turning  in  I  shot  an  Ivory  Gull.  Not  quite  so  cold  that 
night,  but  we  saw  the  ice  coming  back  up  the  Fjord,  and 
next  morning  at  5  a.m.,  we  found  a  thick  fog  and  the 
Bay  full  of  ice.  B.  off  again  after  Deer,  while  we  struck 


SWEDISH  EXPEDITION  85 

the  tent  and  got  ready  to  be  off,  for  we  were  afraid  we 
might  be  beset.  Of  course,  he  got  none,  as  you  could 
scarcely  see  50  yards.  About  9  a.m.,  we  got  under  way  ; 
the  Dr.  and  I  in  the  skiff  as  before.  It  was  not  easy  to 
find  the  way,  but  the  Norwegians  rowed  as  if  by  instinct 
and  our  crew  followed  as  best  they  could.  When  we  got 
within  sight  of  the  Russian  Hut,  we  found  another  big 
boat,  which  turned  out  to  be  Nordenskjold  and  Malmgren, 
who  had  been  released  two  days  before  and  were  on  their 
way  back  to  Safe  Haven.  We  fraternised,  of  course. 
They  had  been  for  some  time  quite  out  of  biscuit  and 
tobacco,  with  both  of  which  we  were  able  to  supply  them. 
Malmgren  had  a  wild  Goose,  which  I  saw  at  once  was 
Anser  brachyrliynchus  t 

The  fog  still  continued,  but  the  Swedes  said  they 
meant  to  go  home  that  day  and  invited  us  to  follow, 
which  we  did.  We  soon  got  out  of  sight  of  land  and  had 
to  steer  by  compass  ;  indeed,  at  one  time  we  in  the  skiff 
lost  both  the  other  boats  ;  but  by  holding  on  our  course 
came  up  to  them  again.  We  had  had  to  diverge  on 
account  of  the  ice,  and  our  crew  could  not  pull  the  skiff 
as  fast  as  the  whale-boats  went.  About  the  middle  of 
the  Fjord  it  cleared,  and  the  fog  holding  to  the  S.  side 
we  saw  our  way  home  well  enough.  A  most  fatiguing 
pull  for  the  men,  at  least  30  miles  from  our  camp  to  the 
yacht,  and  the  tide  against  us  most  part  of  the  way,  yet 
we  did  arrive  at  last  about  9  o'clock  p.m.  Found  that 
Ludwig  had  been  unable  to  do  anything  on  the  Alkenhorn 
even  with  rope  and  men. 

14th.  Rest  day ;  the  Swedes  dine  with  us  and  very 
good  fellows  they  were.  Malmgren  readily  accepted  my 
correction  of  his  error  about  the  Goose,  which  he  had 
taken  to  be  Anser  segetum.  He  showed  me  another 
specimen  and  gave  me  two  eggs.  Showed  me  also  a 
$  Lagopiis,  the  only  one  he  had  got. 

July  15.  Birkbeck,  M.  S.,  and  Lorange  to  Coal  Bay 
in  Tromso  jagt's  boat.  (They  returned  next  day  with 
1  Deer  and  2  $  Phalaropus  platyrhynchw,  M.  S.  sure 
that  they  were  breeding  on  flat  grassy  land  with  pools  of 


86  VISIT  TO  SPITZBERGEN 

water  on  W.  side  of  the  Bay.)  Capt.,  Dr.,  and  I  in  skiff 
to  Alkenhorn ;  on  way  found  Semmoline  coming  in, 
boarded  her,  she  had  been  in  the  ice  and  knocked  off 
some  of  her  sheathing  which  would  have  to  be  replaced. 
Ludwig  found  an  egg  of  Fulmar  carried  off  and  sucked 
by  a  Skua  or  Glaucous.  Coming  back  a  seal  followed  us  ; 
Dr.  and  I  gave  him  three  barrels  each,  when  he  splashed 
about  and  we  were  lucky  enough  to  get  him  into  the 
boat ;  the  small  species,  Phoca  fcetida  or  hispida,  about 
4  ft.  long.  In  evening  Dr.  and  I  to  Swedish  schooner  to 
consult  Malmgren  as  to  species  of  seal.  As  I  was  getting 
on  board  the  dinghy  slipped  away  before  I  had  hold  of 
accommodation  ladder  and  down  I  went ;  water  not  so 
cold  as  I  should  have  thought  (36°), and  as  I  kept  my  pipe 
in  my  mouth  I  lost  nothing.*  Went  back  to  yacht  and 
changed.  Duner  and  Nordenskjold  called  to  inquire  how 
I  was  and  brought  some  Terns'  eggs.  They  sat  talking 
and  drinking  grog  till  late.  Heard  from  them  a  good 
deal  about  the  N.,  which  they  had  surveyed  some  years 
before.  N.  recommends  our  going  there  for  Walrus. 

July  16.  None  the  worse  for  my  ducking.  On  shore 
on  E.  side  of  Haven  to  get  fossils.  Ludwig  walked  over 
ridge  and  came  back  having  found  a  nest  of  Anser 
brachyrhynchus,  2  young  just  hatched  ;  bad  luck.  Also 
a  breeding-place,  accessible,  of  Little  Auk.  Sent  Ludwig 
off  again  to  try  and  shoot  old  Geese.  Dr.  shot  and  missed, 
brought  young  birds.  (N.B.,  they  have  each  a  few 
feathers  on  their  feet !)  The  Swedes  left  about  midnight ; 
Lorange  and  M.  S.  on  board  to  see  the  last  of  them  for 
some  hours.  They  came  home  singing  and  were  not 
easily  prevailed  upon  to  go  to  bed.  M.  S.  humbugged 
Malmgren  into  the  belief  that  he  also  was  an  egg-collector 
and  got  some  given  him  :  Glaucous,  Pink-footed  Goose, 
and  also  a  very  fine  pair  of  Deer  horns. 

July  17,  Sunday.  Tried  to  hire  Tromso  boat  to  go  to 
Coal  Bay  to  look  for  Phalaropes,  but  they  insisted  on 

*  He  said  afterwards  that  thia  was  the  only  action  of  bis  life  of  which  he 
was  proud.  "  Most  men,"  he  said,  "  would  at  least  have  opened  their 
mouths  to  say  '  Ah  ! '  " 


SEALS  87 

sailing.  A  great  bore  but  can't  be  helped.  After  dinner, 
B.,  M.  S.,  Lorange,  and  I  on  board  Semmoline  to  go  to 
Mittel  Hook,  etc.  Ice  pack  in  Fjord  and  water  freezing  ; 
some  bumps  in  the  night. 

July  18.  8  a.m.,  Semmoline  anchored  in  Advent 
Bay,  wind  very  fresh.  B.  and  M.  S.  each  in  whale-boat 
after  Deer.  I  stayed  on  board.  B.  saw  a  large  stag  but 
did  not  get  a  shot.  M.  S.  killed  three.  Ivory  Gulls  and 
other  birds  about. 

July  19.  10  a.m.,  weighed  anchor.  About  11,  B. 
and  Lorange  in  boat  to  Mittel  Hook.  M.  S.  and  I  in  other 
boat  along  shore  to  Eastward.  Met  a  large  seal,  Phoca 
barbata,  which  after  three  shots  from  M.  S.was  harpooned; 
a  most  exciting  capture,  men  not  knowing  their  business 
nearly  capsised  us.  Harpoon  slipped  first  time  and  had 
to  be  thrown  again.  Beast  very  ferocious,  dragging  boat 
through  water  at  great  pace,  and  coming  up  alongside  as 
if  he  would  board  us.  What  must  a  Walrus  be  ?  He 
was  about  11  ft.  long  and  took  a  deal  of  killing.  Fulmars 
come  and  sit  on  water  close  by  during  operation.  Wind 
rising.  Landed,  5  p.m.,  on  point  just  outside  Sassen 
Bay,  a  quicksand  and  frozen  beach  above  it.  Looked 
out  for  Phalaropes  ;  saw  none.  M.  S.  up  valley  for  Deer  ; 
no  luck.  Eed-throated  Diver  came  quite  close  to  me. 
Rigged  up  sails  and  turned  over  boat  for  shelter,  as  it 
was  very  cold  notwithstanding  a  good  fire.  About 
10  p.m.,  got  boat  off  and  stood  out  for  Semmoline  about 
5  miles  off.  White  Whales  again.  Perhaps  lucky  we 
could  not  harpoon  one  as  they  are  very  strong  ;  but  tried 
our  best.  Rain  nearly  all  the  way. 

July  20.  Arrived  on  board  Semmoline  soon  after 
midnight.  Wind  increasing ;  ran  for  Advent  Bay ; 
could  not  do  it,  then  'bout  ship  and  make  for  Sassen 
Bay ;  anchored  behind  headland.  Gale  increasing. 
B.  and  M.  S.  on  shore  in  evening  ;  4  Deer. 

July  21.  Strong  wind,  can't  get  away.  B.  and  M.  S. 
on  shore  again  ;  5  Deer.  Other  boat  with  skipper  to 
eastward  ;  they  returned  next  day  ;  6  Deer. 

July  22.    Left  Semmoline  at  11  a.m.,  in  boat,  as  wind 


88  VISIT  TO  SPITZBERGEN 

had  moderated  ;  reached  Sultana  in  Safe  Haven  about 
8.30  ;  found  they  had  had  worse  weather  than  ourselves. 

July  23.  Semmoline  arrived  at  noon.  With  Ludwig 
on  shore  to  eastward  ;  found  two  Little  Auks'  nests  and 
t  big  young  ones  out.  Shown  site  of  Goose's  nest, 
bssil  and  plant  hunting.  Semmoline  off  at  5  p.m.  B. 
built  cairn  on  W.  side  and  deposited  record.  Sultana 
off  at  6  p.m. 

24th,  Sunday.  Becalmed  ;  foggy.  Semmoline  van- 
ished. By  noon  off  Bell  Sound.  Spoke  a  jagt  from  the 
N.  with  80  walrus  and  90  seals  ! 

July  25.    Calm  and  fine  ;  jagts  in  company. 

July  26.  Do.,  Do.,  Do.  Little  drift  ice  between 
Bell  and  Horn  Sounds. 

27th.  Calm  morning,  foggy.  2  p.m.,  heavy  cross 
sea  rising  ;  opening  Syd  Cap  in  company. 

28th.  High  sea  ;  boats  got  in  and  made  snug. 
Wind  dropped  as  day  got  on  and  calm  in  afternoon. 

29th.  Calm  and  foggy.  About  15  miles  from  S. 
Cape.  Semmoline  becalmed  in-shore.  M.  S.  shot  a  big 
seal  (Ph.  barbata)  from  deck  and  he  was  duly  harpooned. 
Thick  fog  in  evening. 

July  30.  Breeze  from  eastward,  very  cold  ;  dripping 
fog,  clearing  a  little  at  times.  Breeze  freshened  towards 
evening,  but  fog  thick,  so  lay-to. 

July  31,  9  a.m.  Semmoline  close  by  ;  ordered  to  keep 
within  sight ;  fog  all  day ;  consort  generally  not  a 
100  yards  off. 

August  1.  Fog  as  before.  Do.  consort.  Met  ice 
in  evening. 

August  2.  1  a.m.,  thick  fog  ;  large  quantities  of  ice. 
Hove-to  along  with  consort,  whom  we  soon  after  lost 
sight  of  as  she  drifted  to  leeward.  Supposed  to  be  about 
half  way  between  S.  Cape  and  Hope  Island.  Sounding 
all  day. 

August  3.  Fog  as  before  ;  wind  easterly  ;  miserably 
cold  ;  everything  wet  through.  A  few  birds  in  evening. 

August  4.  Dripping  fog  as  before.  About  5  p.m., 
wind  got  Northerly  and  fog  lifted  showing  Vallis  Pt. 


ICE  89 

lying  N.E.  by  N.  7  p.m.,  sighted  Semmoline  off  land. 
11.30  p.m.,  spoke  her  and  made  arrangements  for  next 
day.  We  had  been  so  very  crowded  and  uncomfortable 
before,  that  I  decided  not  to  go  as  M.  S.  was  most  anxious 
about  it,  and  B.  was  helpless  without  Lorange.  His 
intention  was  to  be  back  in  a  week  for  supplies,  etc.  ;  we 
were  to  rendezvous  at  Straedmaes,  supposed  to  be  open, 
and  I  thought  I  should  then  have  my  turn. 

August  5.  Transhipping  stores,  bedding,  etc.,  to 
Semmoline  all  morning ;  about  noon  B.,  M.  S.,  and 
Lorange  off  on  board  her.  Sultana  made  sail  for  Straed- 
maes. Light  wind  ;  lots  of  seals,  "  springers,"  Phoca 
groenlandica,  in  strings,  jumping  out  of  the  water  and 
looking  like  the  Sea-serpent. 

August  6.  Beating  up  Stor  Fjord ;  wind  N.N.W. 
and  very  light ;  a  big  iceberg  floating  about  undecidedly. 
Noon,  much  ice  across.  3  p.m.,  reached  ice  and  sailed 
about  2  miles  through  it.  Pilot  declared  it  "  fast "  a 
little  further  up,  were  within  20  miles  of  Straedmaes. 
Watered  from  the  ice,  as  we  were  running  short ;  then 
stood  out  to  S.W.  Lots  of  seals  all  day,  mostly  Phoca 
grosnlandica  ;  Ivory  Gulls  were  numerous ;  Dr.  in  boat 
shot  10,  I  from  deck  shot  3. 

Sunday,  August  7.  Calm.  Seals  very  numerous  and 
tame  ;  mostly  the  small  species  to-day.  Several  Ivory 
Gulls.  Mirage  of  "  fast "  ice  all  along  the  west  shore 
of  Stor  Fjord.  Snow  in  evening. 

August  8.  Light  air.  Making  for  Thousand  Islands 
to  look  for  driftwood,  being  nearly  out  of  fuel.  9  p.m. 
Anchored  about  3  miles  N.  of  Russo.  Dr.  on  shore ; 
sent  Ludwig  with  him. 

August  9.  1  a.m.,  Dr.  returned  with  wood  and  birds. 
Ludwig  shot  2  Phalaropes  and  thought  he  knew  where 
there  must  be  a  nest.  9  a.m.,  I  went  ashore  ;  flushed 
a  female  from  nearly  the  same  place ;  never  saw  her 
again,  though  I  waited  for  an  hour  or  two  and  afterwards 
walked  all  over  the  island.  Lots  of  Terns  breeding ; 
found  eggs  fresh.  Red-throated  Divers  also,  but  did  not 
find  their  nest.  Gnats  humming  and  almost  inclined  to 


90  VISIT  TO  SPITZBERGEN 

bite.  Afternoon  ;  got  under  way  again,  but  calm,  and 
adverse  tide,  so  at  8  p.m.  anchored. 

August  10.  1.30.,  tried  once  more  to  reach  Round 
Island.  3.0,  sighted  Semmoline.  4  a.m.,  they  all  came 
on  board.  They  had  cruised  among  the  Thousand 
Islands  and  landed  on  Ryk  Island  without  seeing  walrus  or 
bear.  From  the  latter  place  all  was  ice  to  the  N.  They 
then  stood  out  to  the  eastward  in  hopes  of  finding  a 
channel,  and  sighted  Gillies'  Land,  the  country  English 
geographers  don't  believe  in.  Ice  came  drifting  down 
upon  them  9  knots  an  hour  and  they  had  to  run.  They 
got  7  seals. 

7  a.m.,  Semmoline  anchored  alongside  ;  transhipped 


10  a.m.,  both  vessels  off  for  Ice  Sound  again. 
Tumbling  sea ;  N.E.  wind ;  rain  and  snow ;  thick 
evening. 

August  11.  2  a.m.,  sighted  land.  Strong  wind  with 
snow.  6  a.m.,  hauled  up  for  S.  Cape.  8.0,  rounded  S. 
Cape.  Much  heavy  ice.  Noon  :  constantly  running  to 
S.W.,  skirting  ice.  Semmoline  still  ahead  ;  with  a  wind 
"  straight  in  behind  "  she  can  go  faster  than  Sultana. 
Fine  evening.  Water  at  noon,  34°  ;  at  7  p.m.,  43°. 
(Gulf  Stream  «) 

August  12.  Fresh  breeze,  and  fine.  Keeping  away 
still  S.W.  (N.B. — On  my  map  I  have  not  allowed  for  our 
deviations,  but  merely  put  the  general  course)  to  avoid 
tongues  of  ice.  Pilot  very  desponding  about  ice  ;  thinks 
it  is  all  coming  up  behind  us  from  the  N.E.,  and  will  run 
up  the  W.  coast.  It  turned  out  afterwards  that  he 
mistook  the  land  about  Horn  Sound  for  Bell  Sound,  40 
miles  further  up.  We  had  not  had  a  good  look  at  it. 
Pike-headed  Whales  playing  about  and  under  ship. 

August  13.  Still  bearing  to  westward  to  avoid  ice  ; 
light  airs. 

Sunday,  August  14.  Standing  up  for  Ice  Fjord. 
11  a.m.,  sighted  Semmoline  astern.  Fresh  breeze  blowing 
out  of  Sound.  2  jagts  in  Green  Harbour.  3  p.m., 
towing  with  boats.  5,  anchored  in  Safe  Haven,  nearly 


LEAVING  SP1TZBERGEN  91 

in  old  place.  Snow  much  diminished.  On  shore  to  W. 
side  ;  found  old  Russian  Hut,  flagstaff,  etc.,  which  had 
been  covered  up  on  former  visit.  B.  and  M.  S.  found 
Norwegian  graves.  After  dinner  on  shore  on  E.  side, 
sketching  and  getting  plants. 

August  15.  Semmoline  arrived.  B.,  M.  S.,  Dr.,  and 
Lorange  in  her  to  Coal  Bay.  I  did  not  go  as  I  thought 
it  was  useless  looking  there  for  eggs,  and  I  can't  manage 
Deer-stalking.  Rainy  day  with  wind. 

August  16.  Capt.  and  I  with  Ludwig  to  Russian 
Hut ;  find  more  graves.  Get  Red  Snow  plants,  etc. ; 
afterwards  to  Alkenhorn,  caught  young  Una  brunnichi 
and  got  other  birds.  Shot  2  Ivory  Gulls,  right  and  left, 
in  evening. 

August  17.  Calm.  Salt  water  round  ship  froze  at 
4  a.m.  ;  wind  rising,  let  go  2nd  anchor  ;  did  not  leave 
ship.  Strong  gale  at  midnight. 

August  18.  Gale  moderating.  To  Eiderstone  with 
Ludwig.  More  than  12  nests  still  unoccupied ;  one 
hatching  ;  lots  of  down. 

August  19.  Calm  and  sunny.  On  shore  to  N.W.  of 
Haven  ;  found  shells,  etc.  Scraping  ship's  sides  and 
watering.  Fresh  water  on  deck  frozen  at  night. 

August  20.  On  shore  at  Fossil  Ridge,  collecting 
fossils  and  plants.  Ludwig  out  later  seal  shooting  ;  no 
luck. 

Sunday,  August  21.  3.30,  Semmoline  returned  with 
19  Deer,  11  Brent  Geese,  etc.  ;  nothing  particular. 
7  a.m.,  weighed  anchor  ;  wind  light.  4  p.m.,  thick  fog. 
Lost  sight  of  Spitzbergen. 

August  22.     Light  wind.     Saw  last  Ivory  Gull. 

August  23.    Moderate  wind.     Saw  last  Glaucous  Gull. 

August  24.  Light  wind.  Spoke  Nora  of  Hammer- 
fest  shark-fishing ;  one  hauled  up  as  we  passed.  Sighted 
Bear  Island  on  port  beam  about  3.30  p.m. 

August  25,  3  a.m.  Again  sighted  Bear  Island.  Light 
N.W.  breeze.  First  stars  seen. 

August  26.  Very  light  wind  ;  much  warmer.  Sighted 
land  in  afternoon. 


92  VISIT  TO  SPITZBEEGEN 

August  27.  Anchored  at  Hammerfest  at  4  p.m.,  and 
got  our  letters. 

So  ends  my  Spitzbergen  journal.  I  found  the  mail 
steamer  going  to  sail  at  1  a.m.  on  the  28th  (Sunday)  and 
went  qn  board  her.  At  Tromso  I  parted  with  Ludwig, 
with  great  regret.  He  is  the  handiest  and  most  obliging 
fellow  I  ever  had  to  do  with,  and  you  may  speak  to  him 
just  as  you  would  to  a  companion  and  he  does  not 
presume  upon  it.  He  was  to  start  next  day  for  Bals 
Fjord,  whence  he  would  walk  across  to  Mukkanoma  and 
so  get  to  Muoniovara. 

Of  my  voyage  down  the  coast  of  Norway  I  need  not 
say  much  ;  it  was  not  a  pleasant  one.  The  country  is 
thriving  and  the  people  are  not  improved  by  it.  The 
merchants  are  as  boorish  as  Germans,  and  the  lower 
classes  as  extortionate  as  Jews.  They  all  spit  infinitely 
worse  than  Yankees.  The  Prinds  Gustav  is  a  small 
steamer  constructed  to  carry  about  15  cabin  passengers 
and  we  had  nearly  40.  The  further  south  we  came,  the 
more  people  came  on  board,  and  the  closer  every  door, 
port  and  window  were  shut.  To  make  matters  worse, 
the  winter  hours  were  adopted  and  we  scarcely  ever  ran 
at  night ;  this  made  the  voyage  three  days  longer. 


CHAPTER  VII 

DR.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

By  the  Master  of  Christ's,  Sir  A.  E.  Shipley,  G.B.E.,  F.R.S. 

NEWTON  was  admitted  a  member  of  Magdalene  College 
in  the  spring  of  1848,  the  entry  in  the  admission  book 
running  as  follows  : — 

Maii  30,  1848 

Alfred  Newton,  filius  Gulielmi  Newton  de  Eldon  Hall 
in  comitatu  Norfolkiensi,  armigeri,  et  uxoris  ejus  Elizce 
Milnes  privatim  institute,  annos  natus  XIX  admissus 
est  Pensionarius 

Tutoribus   Edv.Warter. 
V.  Raven. 

His  name  appears  for  the  first  time  in  the  Calendar 
for  1849,  and  he  apparently  came  into  residence  in  the 
October  Term  of  the  previous  year.  Altogether  there 
were  about  sixty  students  residing  at  Magdalene  at  that 
time,  including  four  sizars,  and  two  "  Ten-year  men,"  a 
class  of  student  which  is  now  as  extinct  as  the  dodo. 
They  were  usually,  but  not  always,  country  clergy,  who 
by  keeping  one  term  in  each  of  ten  years  and  passing  the 
necessary  examinations  obtained  a  degree. 

The  Cambridge  he  came  up  to  was  very  different  from 
the  Cambridge  of  to-day.  It  is  even  possible  that  he 
arrived  on  a  coach  or  in  a  post-chay,  for  the  railway  line 
to  Norfolk  was  only  opened  three  years  before,  and  the 
unlovely  station  which  stands  to-day  much  as  it  stood 
seventy  years  ago,  was  only  built  in  1845.  At  first  it 
was  provided  with  the  usual  two  platforms,  and  no  one 


94  DR.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

seems  now  to  know  why  one  of  these  was  done  away 
with,  and  the  platform  so  elongated  that  passengers 
perform  a  perceptible  part  of  their  journey  on  foot. 

Still  in  those  days  people  were  easily  pleased,  and  the 
author  of  the  "  Pictorial  Guide  to  Cambridge  "  (1867), 
after  referring  to  coaching  as  a  still  extant  but  semi- 
barbarous  mode  of  transit,  breaks  into  the  following 
rhapsody  over  our  Railway  Station  : 

The  progress  of  the  train  has  ceased,  the  re- 
bounding of  the  carriages  coming  to  a  state  of  rest 
is  over,  the  voices  of  porters  and  the  opening  of 
doors  has  commenced,  and  here  we  are  standing  on 
the  pavement  of  the  Cambridge  station.  What  a 
surprise  !  I  had  no  idea  of  such  a  length  of  building, 
all  covered  over,  and  comfortable  ;  it  cannot  be 
much  less  than  four  hundred  feet.  This  is  really 
one  of  the  best  stations  I  have  seen  for  many  a  day. 
But  how  is  it  the  stream  of  passengers  is  dividing  ? 
Oh,  I  see,  one  half  are  taking  themselves  off  to  that 
handsome  refreshment  room,  and  the  other  half  are 
passing  through  the  building  to  trudge  on  foot  into 
the  town,  or  to  indulge  themselves  with  a  cheap  ride 
to  the  same  place. 

When  Newton  came  into  residence  the  Master  of 
Magdalene  was  the  Hon.  and  Very  Reverend  George 
Neville  Grenville,  Dean  of  Windsor,  who  had  been 
appointed  in  1813.  He  and  his  successor,  the  Hon. 
and  Rev.  Latimer  Neville,  later  Lord  Braybrooke, 
presided  over  the  College  for  ninety-one  years.  The 
Tutors  were  E.  Warter  and  V.  Raven,  and  Mynors 
Bright,  a  well-known  authority  on  "  Pepys'  Diary  "  was 
Lecturer  in  Classics,  Dean  and  Praelector.  At  that  time 
there  were  but  four  Foundation  Fellows  in  the  College, 
but  there  were  no  less  than  thirteen  "  by  "  Fellowships, 
though  three  of  these  were  vacant  in  1849.  The  by- 


UNDERGRADUATE  DAYS  95 

Fellows  all  received  some  small  emolument  from  one  or 
other  of  eight  separate  Foundations,  which  were  con- 
solidated under  the  statutes  of  1882,  when  the  emolu- 
ments of  these  Foundations  were  merged  in  the  general 
funds  of  the  College.  As  was  the  habit  of  the  times, 
nearly  all  the  Fellows  were  in  holy  orders  and  many 
of  them  non-resident. 

There  is  little  record  of  Newton  as  an  undergraduate, 
but  there  is  at  least  one  significant  fact.  He  was  at  that 
time  notable  for  his  English  Essays,  and  I  believe  won 
a  College  prize  in  this  subject.  It  is  sometimes  said  that 
men  of  science  cannot  write  English.  I  don't  believe  it. 
Certainly  they  can  and  do  write  better  English  than 
literary  men  write  Science.  But  in  any  case,  Newton 
was  a  master  of  words  ;  they  never  dominated  him.  He 
used  few,  mostly  Anglo-Saxon  words,  but  he  used  them 
with  an  expert's  sense  of  their  meaning.  In  this,  as  in 
other  aspects  of  his  work,  he  showed  a  quite  peculiar 
sense  of  the  just  and  the  fitting. 

Whilst  an  undergraduate  at  Magdalene,  Newton  oc- 
cupied the  rooms  which  later  were  made  fireproof  and 
now  house  the  Pepysian  Library.  He  was  never  in  the 
technical  sense  a  scholar  of  the  College,  in  fact,  he  took 
a  "  Poll  degree,"  but  after  taking  his  degree,  the  College 
Order-book  of  1854  records  : 

Ego  Alfred  Newton  admissus  fui  in  sodalitium  hujus 
Collegii  pro  Magistro  Drury. 

This  was  a  Fellowship  known  as  the  "  Norfolk 
travelling  Fellowship,"  and  restricted  to  those  whose 
fathers  belonged  to  the  county  of  Norfolk;  but  the 
holder  was  not  a  Foundation  Fellow  The  funds  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Norfolk  Fellow  were  later  merged  in  the 
general  funds  of  the  College  when  the  new  statutes  of 
1882  were  sanctioned  by  Parliament.  It  was  only  in 
1877,  when  he  had  held  the  Professorship  of  Zoology  and 


96  DB.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

Comparative  Anatomy  for  eleven  years,  that  he  became 
a  Foundation  Fellow. 

The  town  to  which  Newton  came  up  in  his  nineteenth 
year  was  much  smaller  than  to-day.  The  population  in 
1851  was  27,815  ;  to-day,  with  the  extensions  of  the 
town  boundaries  which  have  taken  place  since  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century,  it  reaches  the  figure  of  55,812 
The  University  also  has  more  than  doubled  its  size.  In 
1849  there  were  1775  undergraduates,  3786  members  of 
the  Senate,  and  6906  members  of  the  University  "  on  the 
Boards "  ;  to-day  the  numbers  are  3623,  7293,  and 
15,094  respectively.*  The  distribution  of  the  students, 
too,  has  altered  ;  in  those  days  Pembroke  had  but  23 
undergraduates  all  told,  Magdalene  just  over  50. 

The  appearance  of  the  town  was  almost  mediaeval. 
There  were  but  few  houses — barely  a  dozen — south  of 
Parker's  Piece ;  Romsey  Town,  New  Chesterton,  and 
Newnham  hardly  existed  ;  and  to  the  north  the  "  hand- 
some and  commodious  shirehouse "  opened  in  1842 
almost  coincided  with  the  limits  of  the  borough  along 
the  Huntingdon  Road.  To  make  way  for  this  Court  of 
Justice  the  last  relic  of  the  Castle,  a  massive  and  spacious 
gate-house,  was  removed.  The  older  buildings  of  the 
Observatory  looked  then  much  as  they  look  now,  but 
the  married  Don  was  then  unthought-of,  and  the  in- 
numerable red-brick  villas  which  stretch  yearly  further 
towards  the  setting  sun,  between  the  Madingley  and  the 
Barton  Roads  were  undreamt  of.  There  was  no  Selwyn, 
no  Ridley  Hall,  no  Girton,  no  Newnham,  no  Westminster 
or  Cheshunt  Colleges,  and  no  Clergy-Training  School, 
also  there  was  no  Theatre. 

The  Fitzwilliam  Museum  stood  unfinished  with  the 

*  This  was  written  in  June,  1914.  The  numbers  at  present  (November, 
1920)  are  4776,  7780,  and  15,862  respectively. 


CAMBRIDGE  IN   1850  97 

then  much  smaller  Addenbrooke's  Hospital  almost 
opposite.  The  Fitzwilliam  art  collections,  which  had 
been  housed  in  the  old  Perse  School  in  Free  School  Lane, 
were  still  being  exhibited  in  1848  in  the  east  room  of 
the  University  Library.  The  old  College  buildings  still 
stood  at  Pembroke,  and  small  houses  occupied  the  site 
of  the  existing  College  buildings  now  facing  Trumpington 
Street  to  the  south  of  the  Chapel.  Waterhouse's 
"  structures "  were  not  built  until  the  early  'seventies, 
and  Scott's  beautiful  court  in  Pembroke  Street  not  until 
1883.  In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  people  apparently 
preferred  privacy,  and  where  we  now  have  open  railings 
they  had  walls.  There  was  a  wall  in  front  of  Peterhouse 
and  another  shut  off  the  little  garden  near  the  east  end 
of  Trinity  Chapel ;  a  third  wall  enclosed  the  graveyard 
of  St.  Andrew's  Church,  and  another  had  but  recently 
hidden  the  Round  Church.  The  new  buildings  of  the 
Pitt  Press  were  opened  in  1833  and  the  old  Lodge  and 
neighbouring  buildings  which  clung  round  the  east  end 
of  King's  Chapel  had  been  by  this  time  removed,  but 
houses  still  clustered  round  the  east  end  of  St.  Edward's 
Church  and  Great  St.  Mary's,  and,  indeed,  the  greater 
part  of  Market  Hill  was  cumbered  with  buildings.  The 
market  was  then  held  in  an  L-shaped  space  along  the 
east  and  the  southern  side,  and  the  old  conduit  which 
now  stands  at  the  corner  of  the  Lensfield  and  Trumping- 
ton Roads  stood  at  the  west  end  of  the  southern  limb. 
The  greater  part  of  the  marketing  in  those  days  was 
done  on  Peas  Hill,  at  that  time  a  more  spacious  area 
than  our  present  market-place,  and  Cambridge  is  one  of 
the  few  towns  left  where  the  weekly  market  is  still  a 
feature  in  the  life  of  the  citizens.  The  year  after  Newton 
came  up  a  providential  fire  destroyed  some  of  those 
houses  clustering  around  the  east  end  of  St.  Mary's,  and 
the  opportunity  was  taken  to  remove  the  others. 

H 


98  DR.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

The  heavy  gallery  which  occupied  the  whole  width 
and  some  half  of  the  depth  of  the  chancel  of  Great  St. 
Mary's  remained  almost  until  Newton  became  Professor. 
Here  the  Heads  of  Houses  and  the  Doctors  listened  to,  or 
slept  through,  the  University  sermon  in  great  state,  the 
Vice-Chancellor  sitting  on  a  throne  in  the  centre  of  the 
front  row.  The  University  Library  then  sheltered  on 
the  west  side  "  the  Philosophy  School,"  on  the  north  the 
Divinity  School,  on  the  south  "  the  School  for  Civil  Law 
and  Physic,"  and  on  the  east  a  room  where  the  Norrisian 
and  other  Professors  of  Divinity  lectured.  The  Registry 
where  the  Registrary  then  carried  on  his  business  ad- 
joined the  Divinity  School.  All  these  rooms  now  happily 
form  part  of  the  Library,  the  heart  of  the  University. 
Gonville  and  Caius  College  then  presented  a  more  modest 
and  chastened  front  to  the  world  than  it  does  now,  but 
was,  about  this  time,  considering  plans  for  the  existing 
Hall  and  Combination  Room,  and  towards  the  end  of  the 
'sixties  Waterhouse's  buildings  were  erected,  replacing 
amongst  other  things  the  Theatre  Coffee  House  and  the 
original  business  house  of  the  publishing  firm  of  Mac- 
millan.  All  Saints'  Church,  once  known  as  AUhallows-in- 
the- Jewry,  stood  over  against  Trinity,  with  its  tower  pro- 
jecting over  the  narrow  footpath  and  pierced  by  the 
"  side-walk."  The  Selwyn  Divinity  Schools  and  the 
Literary  Schools  did  not  then  exist  in  St.  John's  Street, 
but  on  the  other  side  of  the  road  to  the  Pensionary,  which 
stood  where  now  they  stand,  was  a  curious  congeries  of 
buildings  known  as  the  Labyrinth,  a  relic  of  the  Hospital 
founded  about  1200  by  a  burgess  of  Cambridge,  John 
Frost.  Here  in  dark  and  ill-arranged  rooms  lived  a 
number  of  the  more  evangelical  students,  Simeonites  as 
they  were  then  called.  These  students  and  their  dwel- 
lings are  vividly  described  by  Samuel  Butler  in  his  novel, 
"  The  Way  of  All  Flesh."  The  Labyrinth  occupied  part 


MAGDALENE  COLLEGE  99 

of  the  area  now  covered  by  Scott's  Chapel  at  St.  John's. 
The  old  chapel  stood  till  1869  and  the  Master's  Lodge 
then  occupied  the  north  end  of  the  Hall  and  the  north 
side  of  the  second  court.  The  new  Lodge  near  to  Magda- 
lene College  was  only  erected  in  1863,  and  in  Newton's 
student-days  a  lane  known  as  St.  John's  Lane  ran  from 
St.  John's  Street  along  the  north  side  of  the  College  to 
a  small  hythe  which  abutted  on  the  river,  close  to  the 
west  end  of  the  Library  of  St.  John's. 

Holy  Sepulchre  had  recently  been  "  restored  "  by 
the  Cambridge  Camden  Society,  to  the  despair  of  all 
later  archaeologists,  and  the  opportunity  was  probably 
then  taken  of  removing  the  wall  which,  as  an  old  print 
shows,  shielded  the  Eound  Church  from  the  vulgar  gaze. 
A  little  way  beyond  Newton's  College  stood  in  his 
student-days  the  old  Church  of  St.  Giles.  "  It  is  not 
improbable  that  this  is  the  parent  parish  of  Cambridge," 
writes  Mr.  T.  D.  Atkinson.  We  must  never  forget  that 
Cambridge  in  origin  was  over  the  river,  although  the 
only  "  transpontine  "  College — as  a  late  Master  of  Trinity 
designated  Magdalene — was  that  to  which  Newton 
belonged.  The  Church,  even  after  being  restored  by 
the  ingenious  Professor  Farish,  retained  many  features 
of  interest,  and  it  is  a  great  pity  that  it  was  destroyed 
when  the  present  plain,  one  might  even  say  ugly,  edifice 
was  erected  in  1875. 

The  College  which  Newton  joined  in  1849  was  some- 
what different  from  the  Magdalene  of  to-day.  A  year 
or  two  before  his  "coming  up,"  the  "  Cambridge  Guide  " 
describes  the  outer  of  its  two  courts  as  "  very  neatly 
stuccoed  and  sashed — and  from  the  walls  having  been 
lately  surmounted  by  an  open  parapet  the  whole  presents 
an  air  of  great  neatness  and  elegance."  "  The  chapel  is 
about  50  feet  long,  18  broad ;  it  is  fitted  up  in  an  ex- 
ceedingly neat  and  pleasing  manner,  and  has  a  curious 


100         DR.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

Altar-piece  of  plaster  of  Paris  representing  the  two 
Marys  at  the  Sepulchre  after  the  Resurrection,  in 
alto-relievo,  by  the  ingenious  Mr.  Collins."  The  words 
"  neat  "  and  "  neatness  "  were  overworked  words  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  and  probably  felt  correspond- 
ingly tired. 

But  to  return  to  the  chapel ;  towards  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  space  in  the  roof  had  been 
floored  in  to  make  an  upper  chamber  in  which  the 
College  Library  was  then  placed,  but  about  the  time  of 
Newton's  arrival  at  Magdalene  this  upper  story  was 
removed,  and  the  chapel  was  heightened,  and  by  adding 
to  it  part  of  the  Master's  old  Lodge  lengthened.  These 
"  lodgings  "  had  occupied  the  area  now  covered  by  the 
College  Library,  with  an  outer  staircase  and  a  northern 
wing,  both  of  which  disappeared  when  the  present  Lodge 
to  the  north  of  the  College  was  built  in  1835. 

The  restoration  of  the  chapel  began  in  1847  and  lasted 
over  a  period  of  four  or  five  years.  During  this  time  all 
the  "  incongruities  were  swept  away  and  the  chapel 
skilfully  and  beautifully  restored  to  its  original  Gothic 
character ;  the  fine,  high-pitched  timber  roof  of  the 
fifteenth  century  was  once  more  restored  to  view  ;  the 
entire  building  fitted  up  with  richly-carved  and  appro- 
priate wood-work ;  the  east  window  opened  and  with 
two  side  windows  filled  with  painted  glass."  To  those 
of  us  who  only  knew  the  Professor  as  a  living  and  teach- 
ing zoologist  it  came  as  a  surprise  when  we  learned  that 
he  had  painted  one  of  the  figures  of  these  windows.  He 
himself  never  alluded  to  it. 

On  the  southern  slope  of  Magdalene  towards  the 
river  is  now  an  open  garden,  with  a  parapet  and  water- 
gate — which  no  one  ever  seems  to  use — flanked  at  the 
eastern  end  by  the  new  buildings  of  the  kitchen  and  by 
a  comely  set  of  students'  quarters.  These  last  buildings 


THE  CAM  101 

Newton  never  saw.  This  garden  and  the  new  buildings 
occupy  a  site  bought  in  part  from  Jesus  College  in  1790 
and  in  part  from  the  town  in  the  following  year.  When 
Newton  came  up,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  after- 
wards, this  site  was  covered  by  a  congestion  of  small 
tenements,  those  abutting  on  the  river-side  being  for  the 
most  part  small  ale-houses.  In  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  much  of  the  food  and  the  wood  and  reeds  used 
for  firing  came  into  Cambridge  "  up  the  Cam,"  and 
numerous  small  "  hythes  "  such  as  we  can  still  see  to-day 
between  the  Magdalene  Bridge  and  the  northern  side  of 
St.  John's  College  were  then  conspicuous  along  the  upper 
reaches  of  the  Cam,  between  Magdalene  and  St.  John's 
and  above  Queen's,  where  the  great  mills  were,  and 
although  for  the  most  part  put  out  of  action,  still  are. 
The  towing  horses  of  the  barges  were  cast  off  after 
passing  Midsummer  Common,  and  then  the  barges  were 
punted  along  the  backs  of  the  colleges  by  stout  poles 
called  "  spreads."  In  those  days  the  bargee  was  a  social 
feature  in  the  University,  as  readers  of  Thackeray's 
"  Codlingsby  "  will  recall. 

In  Mr.  T.  D.  Atkinson's  plan  of  Magdalene  the  houses 
huddled  on  this  narrow  site  were  separated  from  the 
College  by  a  narrow  pathway  known  as  Salmon's  Lane, 
but  one  of  Newton's  colleagues  has  told  me  that  Newton 
used  to  say  there  were  two  lanes  running  parallel  with 
the  river  and  two  rows  of  tenements  between  them ; 
after  all,  it  is  difficult  to  be  incredulous  about  the  over- 
crowding of  small  tenements  sixty-five  years  ago,  but 
one  outstanding  fact  is  that  the  corner  house  nearest  to 
the  bridge  was  a  more  substantial  building  and  sheltered 
a  well-known  doctor  of  the  town. 

Newton  came  of  a  country-gentry  stock  The  family 
fortune  was  based  on  the  West  Indies,  and  it  suffered 
the  general  decline  which  accompanied  the  abolition  of 


102         DR.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

slavery.  His  father  was  the  owner  of  the  Elveden 
estate  near  Thetford,  whch  was  later  sold  to  Prince 
Dhuleep  Singh  and  afterwards  passed  into  the  possession 
of  Lord  Iveagh.  His  brothers,  as  brothers  in  county 
families  in  those  days  did,  went  their  several  ways  into 
the  various  professions.  Alfred  Newton  himself  was 
destined  f^r  the  Church  ;  there  was,  I  believe,  a  family 
living,  and  I  well  remember  on  one  sunny  August  after- 
noon in  his  later  years  as  he  and  I  went  together  on  a 
drive  over  the  chalk  hills  between  Cherry  Hinton  and 
the  Hills  Road,  his  telling  me  this,  and  adding  that  "  the 
nearer  he  got  to  orders  the  less  he  liked  the  look  of 
them."  Not  that  he  was  not  always  a  Christian  and  a 
genuinely  religious  man,  but  he  had  his  views,  and  Newton 
when  he  had  his  views  never  varied  them  or  abated  one 
iota  of  them.  On  the  whole,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
it  made  for  peace  in  the  Established  Church  when  Newton 
decided  not  to  take  holy  orders. 

When  I  came  up  to  Cambridge  in  1880,  a  shy  under- 
graduate, who  had  spent  one  year  at  St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital,  where  with  the  help  of  Stephen  Paget  I  had 
dissected  the  leg  of  the  wife  of  the  butler  *  of  the  First 
Napoleon,  I  and  my  contemporaries  fell  under  the 
glamour  of  Morphology.  We  were  not  so  very  far  off 
from  the  "  Origin  of  Species,"  and  we  were  even  con- 
temporaneous with  Darwin's  later  works,  all  of  which 
dealt  with  living  creatures,  living  organisms,  and  yet 
our  obsession  was  with  the  dead,  with  bodies  beautifully 
preserved  and  cut  into  the  most  refined  slices,  stained 
in  various  pigments  so  that  like  the  king's  daughter  of 
the  psalmist  they  were  "  all  glorious  within."  Professor 
Adami,  the  distinguished  pathologist,  and  I  spent  our 

*  He  was  an  old  soldier  who  had  served  in  this  capacity  to  Napoleon  I. 
at  Long  wood  and  in  his  old  age  had  married  a  young  wife,  who  through 
misfortune  died  in  the  Hospital,  and,  no  one  claiming  the  body,  it  was 
dissected. 


FRANCIS  BALFOUR  103 

afternoons  during  half  a  term  in  cutting  into  thin  slices 
a  small  Amphioxus — there  was  no  automatic  microscope 
then,  and  each  section  had  to  be  mounted  on  a  separate 
slide — when  really  we  should  have  been  better  employed 
in  rowing  or  in  playing  football.  It  was  a  curious,  and 
to  me  a  still  unexplained,  result  of  Darwin's  teaching 
that  the  younger  men  who — at  a  very  great  distance — 
followed  his  footsteps,  followed  them  not  in  a  direct 
line  but  at  an  angle,  a  morphological,  an  embryological, 
and  an  historical  angle,  an  angle  which,  to  use  again  an 
Americanism,  anyway  pointed  more  to  the  dead  than 
the  living.  Professor  Francis  Balfour  was  about  this 
time  finishing  his  epoch-making  work  on  Comparative 
Embryology.  He  was  in  a  way  the  founder  of  a  new 
science,  and  without  doubt  was  the  most  attractive  man 
I  have  ever  met.  He  had  to  a  peculiar  degree  that 
elusive  and  indefinable  quality,  charm,  and  he  charmed 
us  all.  Educated  humanity  is  ever  turning  this  way 
and  that,  trying  to  explore  the  unknown,  to  read  the 
riddle  of  our  being.  It  will  never  be  solved,  and  were  it, 
what  would  be  left  ?  In  the  early  'eighties  comparative 
embryology  seemed  the  most  likely  means  of  reaching 
some  solution  of  this  eternal  problem,  and  in  a  minor 
way,  under  Balfour  and  his  lieutenant  Adam  Sedgwick, 
we  all  became  comparative  embryologists. 

Newton,  however,  had  but  little  interest  in  such 
subjects ;  not  that  he  opposed  them  in  any  way ;  indeed, 
he  promoted  them  by  his  personal  influence,  and  by 
lending  his  demonstrator  to  the  acting  Head  of  the 
Morphological  Laboratory.  Although  in  some  respects 
old-fashioned  and  with  fixed  ideas,  he  was  like  Mr. 
Crisparkle's  mother,  "  always  open  to  discussion,"  but 
he  invariably  looked,  as  the  China  shepherdess  looked, 
as  though  he  would  like  to  see  the  discussion  that  would 
change  his  mind. 


104         DE.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

Yet  lie  was  open  to  argument,  and  without  professing 
to  study  or  to  care  much  about  the  newer  aspects  of  his 
subjects,  he  invariably  helped  them  forward.  It  is 
characteristic  of  his  liberality  of  thought  that  when 
some  years  before  his  death  he  nominated  a  deputy  to 
give  his  formal  lectures,  he  chose  William  Bateson,  the 
brilliant  prophet  of  Mendelianism,  a  subject  the  Professor 
was  uninterested  in  and  probably  mistrusted.  He  was, 
in  fact,  a  mid- Victorian  zoologist,  very  painstaking, 
quite  unusually  accurate,  old-fashioned  in  some  ways, 
but  we  must  never  forget  that  he  was  one  of  the  first  of 
the  zoologists  of  repute  to  accept  and  champion  the 
views  of  Charles  Darwin. 

When  I  was  a  student  his  two  courses  of  lectures 
were  on  Darwinism  and  on  the  Geographical  Distribution 
of  Animals.  I  don't  think  Newton  liked  lecturing.  In 
the  affairs  of  ordinary  life  he  did  not  seem  shy,  but  he 
did  seem  shy  about  lecturing.  To  begin  with,  he  chose 
the  uncomfortable  hour  of  1  p.m.  I  once  also  had  to 
lecture  for  two  or  three  years  at  that  unhappy  hour, 
and  meeting  at  some  social  function  a  Girton  lady  who 
came  to  hear  me,  I  apologised  to  her  for  frequently 
stopping  before  2  p.m.  on  the  ground  of  hunger.  "  Oh," 
she  said,  "  we  had  always  assumed  that  you'd  lunched," 
and  she  seemed  to  think  her  or  the  other  ladies'  assump- 
tion as  satisfactory  to  me  as  a  mutton  chop. 

Newton's  lectures  were  desperately  dry  and  very 
formal.  The  Professor  sat  before  a  reading  desk  and 
read  every  word  of  the  discourse  from  a  written  manu- 
script, written  in  his  minute  hand  with  a  broad  quill, 
so  that  all  the  letters  looked  the  same,  like  the  Burmese 
script.  At  long  intervals  there  was  drawn  the  outline 
of  a  tumbler,  like  the  wine-glasses  which  used  to  indicate 
in  the  foreign  "  Bradshaws "  those  railway  stations 
which  boasted  of  the  existence  of  refreshment-rooms. 


LECTURES  105 

Whenever  the  Professor  came  to  these  outlines  he 
religiously  took  a  sip  of  water.  Whether  it  was  the 
time  of  day  or  whether  it  was  that  we  students  were 
all  absorbed  in  Comparative  Embryology  and  in  Mor- 
phology, the  attendance  was  always  small.  I  went 
during  my  second  and  third  year,  and  at  times  was  the 
sole  auditor.  Not  that  that  made  the  least  difference 
to  the  Professor.  He  steadily  and  relentlessly  read  on 
— "  the  majority  of  you  now  present  know,"  "  most  of 
my  audience  are  well  aware,"  and  similar  phrases  left 
me  in  considerable  doubt  as  to  what  parts  of  me  were 
"  the  majority  "  and  which  the  "  most." 

Where  the  Professor  excelled  was  in  informal  talks  in 
his  room  after  lecture  and  in  his  home  in  the  Old  Lodge 
at  Magdalene  College.  He  was  a  zoologist,  not  a  necrolo- 
gist. As  far  as  his  lameness  had  permitted  he  had  always 
been  an  open-air  man.  Owing  to  the  vastness  of  the 
subject,  every  student  of  zoology  must  have  a  special, 
favourite  group  of  animals,  and  Newton  cared  most 
about  birds.  But  he  was  no  "  mere  ornithologist,"  as 
his  unsuccessful  opponent  at  the  election  to  the  pro- 
fessorship described  him  in  1866.  His  shilling  text- 
book "  Zoology,"  one  of  the  Manuals  of  Elementary 
Science,  published  by  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Christian  Knowledge,  was  a  model  of  its  kind,  and 
undoubtedly  should  be  better  known,  for  in  clear  and 
clean-cut  English  it  covered  practically  every  branch  of 
zoology,  and  to  the  younger  student  presented  an 
ordered  framework  upon  which  he  could  hang  his 
scattered  and  isolated,  but  none  the  less  real,  items  of 
knowledge. 

Newton's  Sunday  evenings  were  great  institutions 
in  the  life  of  all  of  us  who  cared  about  biological  science 
thirty  odd  years  ago  and  onwards  till  his  death.  They 
began  in  a  small  way  ;  when  the  Professor  first  became 


106         DR.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

a  Professor  in  1866  the  number  of  those  who  passed  the 
Natural  Science  Tripos  was  but  nine,  the  year  Newton 
died  the  numbers  were,  in  Part  I.  147,  and  in  Part  II.  36. 
One  of  his  best  friends,  one  who  "  came  up  "  about  the 
time  Newton  was  elected  to  the  Chair  of  Zoology  and 
Comparative  Anatomy,  and  who  in  those  remote  days 
frequented  the  Sunday  evenings  at  Magdalene  College, 
told  me  that  when  his  younger  brother  came  up  a  few 
years  later  he  sent  by  his  hand  a  brace  of  partridges. 
The  freshman  knocked  at  the  door,  and  entering  the 
room,  faced  the  back  of  the  Professor,  and  after  an 
almost  audible  pause,  said  "  Please,  sir,  I've  brought 
you  some  birds."  "  Skins  or  skeletons,"  flashed  back 
the  ornithologist,  always  more  occupied  in  ornithology 
than  in  gastronomy.  Not  that  Newton  did  not  value 
a  good  dinner.  He  breakfasted  a  little  late,  but  very 
heartily,  and  he  rather  despised  those  who  ate  lunch — 
a  biscuit  and  a  glass  of  sherry  buoyed  him  up  for  his 
one  o'clock  lecture — but  he  enjoyed  his  dinner.  One 
curious  custom  he  had,  he  always  watered  his  wine ;  he 
used  to  request  a  carafe  to  be  placed  near  him  and 
poured  a  little  water  into  each  glass  of  wine,  though  if 
I  recollect  aright  he  spared  the  port. 

On  Sunday  evenings  after  a  glass,  or  perhaps  two,  of 
port,  and  a  couple  of  exiguous  Russian  cigarettes  in  the 
Combination  Room,  the  Professor  used  to  retire,  and 
twenty  minutes  later  those  who  were  privileged  to  dine 
with  him  in  Hall  went  through  the  garden  entrance, 
and  so  into  the  inner  room,  where  we  found  him  seated 
in  an  arm-chair  just  within  the  doors.  The  room  was 
plainly  but  comfortably  furnished  in  the  mode  of  the 
Victorian  period  ;  the  fire  was  very  hot,  the  guests  were 
seated  in  a  large  circle  of  chairs,  something  like  the 
Christy  Minstrels  of  our  boyish  days ;  and  yet  in 
spite  of  these  obvious  disadvantages  Newton's  Sunday 


SUNDAY  EVENINGS  107 

evenings  saved  Zoology  as  the  science  of  living  animals 
in  Cambridge.  Often  there  were  awkward  pauses,  but 
the  Professor  sat  through  them  all,  making  paper  spills 
out  of  old  letters,  and  smoking  pipe  after  pipe.  To  him 
the  little  Russian  cigarettes  were  merely  "hors  d'ceuvres," 
the  real  business  was  tobacco  in  a  pipe,  and  he  held  very 
strong  views  about  pipe  racks.  The  bowl  of  the  pipe  must 
be  supported  so  as  to  be  lower  than  the  stem,  and  the 
numerous  racks  that  supported  his  innumerable  pipes 
exemplified  this  principle.  These  Sunday  evenings  were 
a  little  formal  and  a  little  dull,  we  were  all  a  little  afraid 
of  the  Professor,  and  much  more  afraid  of  ourselves. 
Sitting  in  that  semicircle  of  seats  it  was  difficult  if  not 
impossible  to  break  up  into  groups,  and  yet  those  Sunday 
evenings  and  some  others  which  I  attended  in  Oscar 
Browning's  rooms  at  King's  and  in  Vine's  at  my  own 
College  helped  me  more  than  I  can  say.  He  was,  in  the 
real  and  the  best  sense,  a  man  of  the  world,  and  hence 
he  was  able  to  help  us  and  did  help  us  in  many  ways, 
not  in  the  least  zoological. 

In  politics  and  in  daily  life  Newton  was  a  Conserva- 
tive, even  a  Tory,  he  took  little  part  in  party  affairs, 
having  more  important  things  to  trouble  about,  but  he 
resented  and  opposed  any  change  in  "  the  daily  round, 
the  common  task."  Alterations  in  the  College  dinner, 
the  introduction  of  an  organ  into  the  chapel,  the  presence 
of  ladies  at  divine  service,  all  met  with  his  disapproval 
and  his  dissent,  and  neither  were  silent.  For  many 
years  he  presided  as  the  first  Chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Biology  and  Geology  constituted  under  the  statutes  of 
1881.  He  was  a  just  and  equable  chairman,  better, 
indeed,  in  the  chair  than  out  of  it,  but  he  never  approved 
of  the  existence  of  the  body  he  presided  over,  and 
nothing  would  induce  him  to  vote  either  for  or  against 
so  new-fangled  an  idea  as  a  Doctor  of  Science.  His 


108         DR.  SHIPLEY'S  REMINISCENCES 

conservative  caution  spread  at  times  to  his  writings. 
We  have  seen  that  he  was  able  and  even  willing  to  accept 
new  ideas  and  to  teach  them,  when  he  had  by  careful 
thought  arrived  at  the  conviction  that  they  were  sound, 
still  in  his  magnum  opus,  the  "  Dictionary  of  Birds,"  he 
preferred  an  alphabetical  arrangement  of  his  material 
rather  than  commit  himself  to  any  of  the  existing 
schemes  of  classification.  None  of  these  seemed  to  him 
satisfactory,  and  of  course  no  system  of  classification  of 
natural  objects  ever  can  be. 

Here  may  I  add  a  few  lines  I  wrote  about  Newton 
very  shortly  after  his  death,  when  my  memory  of  him, 
never  to  be  dulled,  was,  perhaps,  a  little  sharper  than 
now? 

The  Museum  of  Zoology  in  Cambridge,  which  has 
grown  to  be  one  of  the  largest  in  the  kingdom,  attained 
its  position  largely  under  his  guidance.  He  was  always 
on  the  look  out  for  new  and  valuable  specimens,  con- 
stantly, though  anonymously,  buying  and  presenting 
these.  He  very  greatly  disliked  any  of  his  donations 
to  be  recorded  in  the  Reports  of  the  Museums  and 
Lecture  Rooms  Syndicate.  His  gifts,  not  only  of  speci- 
mens, but  of  books,  to  the  Library  of  the  department 
must  have  cost  a  very  large  sum.  His  interest  in  old 
books  and  early  editions  was  that  of  a  scholar.  He 
spent  much  time  and  knowledge  on  the  University 
Library,  but  his  special  province  was  the  Philosophical 
Library,  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  Museums,  over 
whose  destiny  he  presided  for  many  years.  It  is  largely 
due  to  him  that  the  Library  at  the  present  time  takes 
in  some  600  periodicals,  and  nothing  gave  him  greater 
satisfaction  than  when,  by  the  careful  study  of  book- 
sellers' lists,  he  was  able  to  complete  a  "  broken  set." 
There  was  something  peculiarly  scholarly  about  Newton's 
writings  ;  and  in  small  matters  of  grammar  and  punctua- 
tion he  was  punctilious  in  a  way  that  is  now  becoming 
rare.  Very  little  that  he  published  was  of  an  ephemeral 


CHARACTER  109 

nature,  and  his  printed  word  is  characterised  by  great 
width  of  knowledge,  untiring  research,  and  an  unusual 
degree  of  accuracy.  In  trying  to  sum  up  Newton's 
character  one's  "  mind  naturally  reverts,"  as  Mrs.  R. 
Wilfer  said,  to  Dickens'  description  of  Sir  Leicester 
Dedlock,  "  He  is  a  gentleman  of  strict  conscience,  dis- 
dainful of  all  littleness  and  meanness,  and  ready  at  the 
shortest  notice  to  die  any  death  you  may  please  to 
mention  rather  than  give  occasion  for  the  least  im- 
peachment of  his  integrity.  He  is  an  honourable, 
obstinate,  truthful,  high-spirited  .  .  .  man."  I  have 
left  out  the  words  "  intensely  prejudiced,  perfectly  un- 
reasonable," because  although  at  times  Newton  was 
prejudiced  and  was  unreasonable,  the  adjectives  Dickens 
used  go  beyond  my  estimate  of  these  traits  in  his 
character. 

Once  more  to  quote  what  I  wrote  soon  after  his 
death : 

When  once  you  were  a  friend  of  Newton's,  you  were 
always  his  friend.  He  was  possessed  of  the  old-fashioned 
courtesy  of  manner,  and  a  certain  leisureliness  of  habit, 
which  made  a  visitor  feel  that  he  was  not  trespassing  on 
the  time  of  his  host.  Both  in  appearance  and  in  cha- 
racter he  had  the  finest  attributes  of  the  old  race  of 
English  country  gentlemen,  to  which  by  birth  he 
belonged. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

EARLY  DAYS    OF   DARWINISM 

IN  the  early  part  of  1858  Newton  accompanied  John 
Wolley  to  Iceland  for  the  purpose  of  inquiring  into  the 
supposed  recent  extinction  of  the  Great  Auk,  and  into 
the  causes  which  had  brought  about  that  result.  During 
two  months  of  enforced  inaction  in  an  Iceland  village, 
the  two  men  had  opportunities  of  frequently  discussing 
questions  that  were  then  occupying  the  minds  of 
biologists.  Among  these  were, "  What  is  a  Species  ?  "  and 
"  How  did  a  Species  begin  ?  " — the  latter  a  question  all 
the  more  naturally  arising  from  the  fact  that  their 
particular  business  was  to  find  out  how  a  species  had 
come  to  an  end.  Both  of  them  were  well  acquainted 
with  the  views  of  Lamarck  and  the  author  of  the  "  Ves- 
tiges of  Creation,"  and  also  of  the  contrary  views  of  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  and  of  Adam  Sedgwick.  Moreover,  in 
the  preceding  year,  Newton  had  visited  America,  where 
he  had  frequently  been  impressed  with  the  opinions  of 
Professor  Louis  Agassiz,  which  were,  briefly,  that  each 
species  had  had  not  one  Centre  of  Creation,  but  that 
many — perhaps  most — species  had  been  created  in 
several  places,  at  sundry  times,  and  possibly  in  vast 
numbers.  These  various  conflicting  theories  gave  rise 
to  long  discussions,  often  turning  on  the  prevalence  of 
Blue  Foxes  in  Iceland,  the  relations  between  the  Red 
Grouse  and  the  Willow  Grouse,  and  so  forth  ;  but  they 
never  produced  any  definite  result  beyond  a  firm  con- 
viction that,  for  the  salvation  of  Botany  and  Zoology 
there  must  soon  be  found  a  solution  of  those  problems. 
no 


VARIATIONS  IN  SPECIES  111 

On  his  way  back  from  Iceland,  Newton  paid  a  visit 
to  his  friend  H.  B.  Tristram  (at  that  time  rector  of 
Castle  Eden),  who  had  recently  made  two  journeys  to 
Algeria  and  Tunis,  where  he  had  diligently  collected 
specimens  of  birds  and  reptiles.  Among  these  he  was 
particularly  interested  by  the  desert-forms  represented 
in  the  large  series  of  Larks  or  Chats. 

Generally  the  inhabiters  of  the  desert  took  a  dull 
drab,  but  occasionally  a  warm  or  sand-coloured  hue, 
while  those  which  did  not  dwell  in  the  desert  wore  a 
suit  of  much  more  decided  and  variegated  tint.  .  .  I 
was  at  once  reminded  of  what,  in  a  less  degree,  I  had 
been  shown  and  told  the  year  before  at  Washington  by 
Professor  Baird,  who  pointed  out  to  me  the  variations 
exhibited  by  examples  of  the  same  species  of  several 
groups  of  North  American  birds,  according  as  they  came 
from  woodland,  prairie,  or  elevated  country.  Among 
all  these  were  indications  of  a  similar  general  law.  The 
woodland  examples  were  the  most  highly  coloured. 
Those  from  the  prairies  were  less  deeply  tinted  ;  while 
those  from  the  high  plains — districts  which,  from  what 
I  heard,  seemed  to  approach  in  some  degree  the  con- 
dition of  a  desert  such  as  is  found  in  the  Old  World — 
exhibited  a  fainter  coloration.  Here,  then,  was  a  sign 
that  like  causes  produced  like  effects  even  at  the 
enormous  distances  which  separated  the  several  localities. 
The  effects  were  plainly  visible  to  the  eye ;  what  were 
the  causes  ?  The  only  explanation  offered  to  me  by 
Professor  Baird,  so  far  as  I  remember,  was  that  the 
chemical  action  of  light,  uninterrupted  by  any  kind  of 
shade,  produced  the  effect  that  was  patent.  With  this 
explanation,  though  it  hardly  seemed  satisfactory,  one 
was  fain  to  be  content. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  Newton  was  ready  and 
anxious  for  a  reasonable  explanation  of  these  problems, 
and  that  he  embraced  the  new  teaching  with  enthusiasm 


112  EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

will  be  evident  from  the  following  letters  and  extracts 
from  his  writings. 

Not  many  days  after  my  return  home  there  reached 
me  the  part  of  the  Journal  of  the  Linnean  Society  which 
bears  on  its  cover  the  date  20th  August,  1858,  and 
contains  the  papers  by  Mr.  Darwin  and  Mr.  Wallace, 
which  were  communicated  to  that  Society  at  its  special 
meeting  of  the  first  of  July  preceding,  by  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  and  Dr.  (now  Sir  Joseph)  Hooker.  I  think  I  had 
been  away  from  home  the  day  this  publication  arrived, 
and  I  found  it  when  I  came  back  in  the  evening.  At  all 
events,  I  know  that  I  sat  up  late  that  night  to  read  it ; 
and  never  shall  I  forget  the  impression  it  made  upon  me. 
Herein  was  contained  a  perfectly  simple  solution  of  all 
the  difficulties  which  had  been  troubling  me  for  months 
past.  I  hardly  know  whether  I  at  first  felt  more  vexed 
at  the  solution  not  having  occurred  to  me  than  pleased 
that  it  had  been  found  at  all.  However,  after  reading 
these  papers  more  than  once,  I  went  to  bed  satisfied 
that  a  solution  had  been  found.  All  personal  feeling 
apart,  it  came  to  me  like  the  direct  revelation  of  a  higher 
power  ;  and  I  awoke  next  morning  with  the  conscious- 
ness that  there  was  an  end  of  all  the  mystery  in  the 
simple  phrase,  "  Natural  Selection."  I  am  free  to 
confess  that  in  my  joy  I  did  not  then  perceive,  and  I 
cannot  say  when  I  did  begin  to  perceive,  that  though 
my  especial  puzzles  were  thus  explained,  dozens,  scores, 
nay,  hundreds  of  other  difficulties  lay  in  the  path,  which 
would  require  an  amount  of  knowledge,  to  be  derived 
from  experiment,  observation,  and  close  reasoning,  of 
which  I  could  form  no  notion,  before  this  key  to  the 
"  mystery  of  mysteries  "  could  be  said  to  be  perfected  ; 
but  I  was  convinced  a  vera  causa  had  been  found,  and  that 
by  its  aid  one  of  the  greatest  secrets  of  creation  was  going 
to  be  unlocked.  I  lost  no  time  in  drawing  the  attention 
of  some  of  my  friends,  with  whom  I  happened  to  be  at 
the  time  in  correspondence,  to  the  discovery  of  Mr. 
Darwin  and  Mr.  Wallace  ;  and  I  must  acknowledge  that 


EVOLUTION  113 

I  was  somewhat  disappointed  to  find  that  they  did  not 
so  readily  as  I  had  hoped  approve  of  the  new  theory. 
In  some  quarters  I  failed  to  attract  notice  ;  in  others  my 
efforts  received  only  a  qualified  approval.  But  I  am 
sure  I  was  not  discouraged  in  consequence  ;  and  I  never 
doubted  for  one  moment,  then  nor  since,  that  we  had 
one  of  the  grandest  discoveries  of  the  age — a  discovery 
all  the  more  grand  because  it  was  so  simple.* 

At  once  a  hundred  difficulties  were  swept  away  : 
there  seemed  to  be  a  plausible  answer  to  the  question, 
"  What  is  a  Species  ?  "  The  new  theory  might  even 
explain  how  one  variety  or  race  might  pass  into  another, 
but  the  doubt  arose  whether  the  process  of  invisible 
steps  could  do  more  than  that  and  produce  the  stupen- 
dous effects,  which  are  now  expressed  by  the  word 
Evolution. 

That  the  doubt  thus  implied  was  occasionally  stagger- 
ing I  do  not  deny  ;  but  I  always  found  that,  even  if  for 
a  time  I  reeled  under  it,  I  could  by  further  reflection 
recover  my  balance  and  resume  my  position.  The 
consideration  which  thus  enabled  me  to  keep,  on  the 
whole,  a  steady  attitude,  was  one  furnished  by  a  very 
small  amount  of  mathematics  acquired  in  earlier  days 
and  fortunately  yet  borne  in  mind.  One  has  not  to  go 
far  in  the  study  of  algebra  before  one  meets  with  a 
theorem  in  which  one  finds  that  certain  properties  can 
be  proved  for  certain  definite  numbers  in  succession. 
If  an  indefinite  number  be  taken,  the  same  property 
can  be  proved  to  exist  for  the  number  next  to  it.  Hence 
mathematicians  (those  most  sceptical  of  men)  conclude 
that  this  theorem  is  universally  true.  Now,  to  apply 
this.  The  existence  of  variation,  however  slight  that 
variation  might  be,  once  accepted  (and  a  very  moderate 
amount  of  experience  showed  that  variation  did  exist), 
who  could  doubt  that  variation  might  in  certain  cir- 
cumstances go  on  indefinitely  ?  Whether  it  would  do 
so  or  not  was  another  matter  ;  but  what  naturalist  had 

*  "  I  should  add  that  at  this  time  I  had  no  acquaintance  personally  or 
by  correspondence  with  either  of  the  discoverers." 


114  EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

ever  with  good  reason  attempted  to  set  a  limit  to 
variation  ?  Until  such  limitation,  or  cause  for  limita- 
tion, was  shown,  I  felt  I  was  justified  in  concluding  that 
variation  might  go  on  indefinitely — that  variation  might 
extend,  as  indeed  there  was  some  positive  evidence  of 
its  doing,  from  coloration  to  minor  points  of  structure, 
and  from  minor  to  major  points.  Thus  it  seemed  to  me 
that,  if  mathematicians  were  right  in  admitting  the  truth 
of  Euler's  proof  of  the  Binomial  Theorem,  I  could  not 
be  very  wrong  in  accepting  the  truth  of  Evolution  by 
means  of  Natural  Selection.  When  afterwards  I  came 
to  read  Mr.  Darwin's  "  Animals  and  Plants  under 
Domestication,"  the  aptness  of  my  application  of  the 
mathematical  reasoning  seemed  to  be  more  and  more 
perfect.  In  those  domesticated  animals  and  plants  of 
which  the  origin  was  perfectly  certain,  we  had  the  definite 
quantities  required  for  the  illustration  :  in  the  domesti- 
cated animals  and  plants  of  which  the  origin  was  not  so 
certain,  we  had  the  indefinite  quantities  :  in  the  wild 
animals  and  plants  the  unknown  quantities.  We  could 
prove  by  experiment  that  such  and  such  results  followed 
from  any  next  step  with  regard  to  our  known  quantities, 
and  by  experiment  could  prove  that  similar  results 
followed  from  the  next  step  with  regard  to  our  indefinite 
quantities.  Were  we  not  justified  then  in  concluding 
that  the  like  results  would  follow  from  our  unknown 
quantities  ?  * 

*  "  I  had  often  wondered  that  this  obvious  illustration  had  not  occurred 
to  Mr.  Darwin,  in  none  of  whose  works  have  I  noticed  any  allusion  to  it ; 
but  the  cause  of  the  omission  I  did  not  suspect  until  I  read  his  Auto- 
biography. It  was  probably  due  to  the  fact  of  his  not  having  made 
sufficient  progress  in  mathematics  to  become  aware  of  this  simple  theorem. 
He  has  told  us  (vol.  i.  p.  46),  '  I  attempted  mathematics  and  even  went 
during  the  summer  of  1828  with  a  private  tutor  (a  very  dull  man)  to 
Barmouth,  but  I  got  on  very  slowly.  The  work  was  repugnant  to  me, 
chiefly  from  my  not  being  able  to  see  any  meaning  in  the  early  steps  in 
algebra.  This  impatience  was  very  foolish  and  in  after  years  I  have 
deeply  regretted  I  did  not  proceed  far  enough  at  least  to  understand  some- 
thing of  the  leading  principles  of  mathematics.'  He  goes  on  to  declare 
that  he  did  not  believe  he  '  should  ever  have  succeeded  beyond  a  very  low 
grade.'  To  this  belief  we  may  perhaps  demur.  Under  good  tuition  there 
seems  no  reason  why  he  should  not  have  derived  as  much  satisfaction  from 


DARWIN  AND  WALLACE  115 

Only  four  days  after  the  publication  of  the  famous 
paper,  and  one  day  after  he  had  received  and  read  it, 
Newton  began  to  apply  the  principles  of  the  theory  of 
Darwin  and  Wallace  to  particular  cases  within  his  own 
knowledge. 

I  have  been  very  much  pleased  with  a  paper  in  the 
last  number  of  the  Linnean  Society's  Proc.  on  "  the 
tendency  of  Species  to  form  Varieties  and  on  the  Per- 
petuation of  Varieties  and  Species  by  Natural  means  of 
selection,"  by  Darwin  and  Wallace.  I  am  not  quite 
sure  that  I  altogether  agree  with  them,  but  there  is  very 
much  in  it  that  is  very  good,  and  most  of  the  ideas  pro- 
pounded are  original.  I  think  there  is  a  hint  in  it  on 
which  you  might  speak,  on  the  subject  I  suggested  to 
you  when  at  Castle  Eden  as  being  a  likely  one  for  a 
paper  before  the  Linnean  Society,  the  variations  induced 
by  desert  climate,  as  exemplified  in  North  African  Larks 
and  Wheatears.  The  idea  is  perhaps  not  new,  i.e.  many 
naturalists  know  perfectly  well  that  birds  from  desert 
localities  do  not  exactly  resemble  individuals  of  the  same 
species  (i.e.  good  species,  not  those  of  bird-namers)  from 
more  favoured  districts.  Baird  of  Washington  is  quite 
familiar  with  this  fact,  and  has  or  is  about  to  put  it  into 
print  together  with  the  reasons  whence  he  draws  his 
conclusions.  The  great  Gould,  too,  has  made  remarks 
(Proc.  Z.S.,  1855,  p.  78)  bearing  more  or  less  on  the  same 
subject,  with  respect  to  the  coloration  of  birds  inhabiting 
forests  and  plains,  sunny  and  cloudy  atmospheres  ;  but 
I  do  not  suppose  any  one  has  connected  these  facts  with 
the  theory  (though  it  is  more  than  theory)  of  Darwin  and 
Wallace,  nor  has  any  one  practically  applied  their  ideas. 
It  seems  to  me  that  they  can  be  connected  and  should 
be  connected  thus :  any  modification  of  the  structure 
(using  the  word  in  its  widest  sense,  even  to  comprehend 

algebra  as  he  tells  us  a  few  pages  before  (vol.  i.  p.  33)  he  did  from  geometry, 
and  as  much  delight  as  when  the  principle  of  the  vernier  was  explained  to 
him  " — Extract  from  "  Early  Days  of  Darwinism,"  Macmillan's  Magazine, 
February,  1888. 


116          EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

a  mere  change  of  colour)  of  an  animal  must  in  some  wa^ 
or  other  affect  the  ease  or  difficulty  with  which  it  con 
contrives  to  maintain  its  existence.  In  the  struggle  fo 
life  which  we  know  to  be  going  on  among  all  species,  ; 
very  slight  change  for  the  better,  such  as  improve* 
means  of  escaping  from  its  natural  enemies  (which  wouL 
be  the  effect  of  an  alteration  in  colour  from  one  differin 
much  to  one  closely  resembling  the  hue  of  surroundiii 
objects),  would  give  that  variety  a  great  advantage  ove 
the  typical  or  other  forms  of  the  species.  Allow  th 
advantage  to  be  continued  for  a  considerable  period 
and  the  variety  becomes  not  only  a  race  with  its  varia 
tions  still  more  strongly  imprinted  upon  it,  but  the  typicg 
form  or  varieties  having  experienced  changes  not  ad 
vantageous  to  their  life  may  even  become  extinct 
Thus  to  apply  the  case,  suppose  an  Algerian  desert  t 
become  colonised  by  a  few  pairs  of  Crested  Lark  ;  w 
know  that  the  probability  is  that  of  them  one  or  tw 
pairs  would  be  likely  to  be  of  a  darker  complexion  tha] 
the  others,  these  and  such  of  their  offspring  as  mos 
resembled  them  would  become  more  liable  to  captur 
by  their  natural  enemies,  hawks,  carnivorous  beasts- 
etc. ;  the  lighter  coloured  ones  would  enjoy  more  c 
less  immunity  from  such  attacks  ;  let  the  state  of  thing 
continue  a  few  hundred  years,  the  dark-coloured  in 
dividuals  would  be  exterminated,  the  lighter-colourei 
remain  and  inhabit  the  land. 

Again,  smaller  or  shorter-billed  varieties  woul 
undergo  comparative  difficulty  in  finding  food  whe: 
food  was  not  abundant,  and  had  to  be  picked  out  fror 
crevices  among  stones,  these  would  be  in  comparative! 
reduced  condition,  in  the  breeding  season  they  wouL 
not  feel  their  capabilities  were  such  as  inclined  them  t 
matrimony,  the  consequences  would  be  in  a  few  hundrei 
years  the  longer-billed  varieties  would  be  the  mos 
numerous,  they  would  become  a  race,  in  a  few  hundrei 
years  more  they  would  be  the  sole  possessors  of  the  land 
the  shorter-billed  fellows  dying  out  of  their  way  unt: 
that  race  was  extinct.  Here  are  only  two  cases  enume 


ORIGIN  OF  SPECIES  117 

rated  which  might  serve  to  create,  as  it  were,  a  new 
species  from  an  old  one,  yet  they  are  perfectly  natural 
ones,  and  such  as  I  think  must  occur,  have  occurred, 
and  possibly  be  occurring  still.  We  know  so  very  little 
of  the  causes  which,  in  by  far  the  majority,  if  not  in 
nearly  all  cases,  make  species  rare  or  common,  that 
there  may  be  hundreds  of  others  at  work,  some  even  more 
powerful  than  these,  that  go  to  perpetuate  certain  forms 
in  Darwin's  words  according  to  natural  means  of  selec- 
tion. You  may  have  a  mere  individual  difference  in 
the  organs  of  digestion,  and  in  this  way  produce  a 
Gillaroo  Trout  with  his  gizzard-like  stomach,  out  of  a 
common  Salmo  fario.  But  for  your  paper  you  must 
first  consult  Darwin  and  Wallace,  and  you  will  under- 
stand that  nothing  that  I  have  advised  here  is  my  own, 
but  theirs,  except  the  application  of  their  theory  to 
Algerian  Larks  and  Irish  trout.  You  should  also  get  a 
little  book  of  Vernon  Wollaston's  on  the  "  Variation  of 
Species,"  published  a  year  or  two  ago  by  Van  Voorst, 
the  price  of  which  is  5s.  or  so.* 

Thirty  years  later,  when  writing  the  article  for 
Macmillan's  Magazine,  from  which  the  above  extracts 
have  been  taken,  Newton  asked  Tristram  to  lend  him 
the  last  quoted  letter  and  recalled  the  circumstances  in 
which  it  had  been  written — 

With  many  thanks  I  return  the  old  letter  you  have 
sent  me.  The  particular  one,  or  more  than  one,  that  I 
wanted  to  see  must  be  much  earlier.  I  think  you  will 
find  I  mentioned  the  Darwin  and  Wallace  paper  to  you 
as  soon  as  I  became  acquainted  with  it,  and  that  was  in 
August,  1858,  just  after  my  return  from  Iceland,  having 
taken  Castle  Eden  on  my  way  home.  During  our  stay 
in  Iceland  Wolley  and  I  had  been  continually  discussing 
what  should  be  held  to  constitute  a  "  species "  and 
how  new  "  species  "  began.  Of  course,  we  came  to  no 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  August  24,  1858. 


118  EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

conclusion  worth  anything.  Then  when  I  was  with  you 
you  showed  me  that  marvellous  collection  of  Larks  and 
Chats,  including  so  many  "  Desert  forms,"  something 
like  which  (in  the  way  of  local  variation)  poor  Baird  had 
shown  me  the  year  before  in  Washington.  I  was  wholly 
bewildered.  Towards  the  end  of  the  month  appeared 
that  part  of  the  Linnean  Journal,  and  behold  all  to  me 
became  as  clear  as  possible  !  Such  a  revelation  never 
was  before  nor  will  be,  I  think,  again  to  me.  I  want  to 
work  all  this  into  a  paper  I  have  to  do  for  Macmillan 
d,  propos  of  Darwin's  "  Life  and  Letters  "  ;  but  it  has  to 
be  done  AT  ONCE,  and  therefore  please  let  me  have  any 
letters  you  can  find  showing  my  frame  of  mind  at  that 
time,  or  at  least  before  the  publication  of  the  "  Origin," 
which  was  not  until  Nov.  (or  perhaps  Dec.),  1859.  To  the 
best  of  my  belief  I  took  in  the  whole  thing,  details  apart, 
from  the  first ;  but  I  find  I  cannot  trust  my  memory, 
and  the  letters  would  be  a  great  help  to  me.* 

In  November,  1859,  the  ever-celebrated  "  Origin  of 
Species  "  was  published.  "  Its  contents  I  devoured  and 
felt  happier  than  ever,  for  now  I  began  to  see  that  Natural 
History  possessed  an  interest  far  beyond  that  which  it 
had  entered  into  my  mind  to  perceive."  The  various 
reviews  of  the  book,  most  of  them  unfavourable  to 
Darwin's  views,  were  read  by  Newton,  but  produced 
little  or  no  effect  on  him  except  to  lower  his  estimate  of 
the  general  run  of  critics.  In  the  following  year  he  was 
present  at  the  memorable  meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion at  Oxford — 

In  the  Nat.  Hist.  Section  we  had  another  hot  Dar- 
winian debate.  Mr.  F.  0.  Morris  had  a  paper  on  the  list 
to  be  read  "  On  the  Permanence  of  Species,"  but  in  the 
committee  we  decided  it  should  not  be  produced  (he  was 
not  there  himself),  Babington  treating  us  to  some  selec- 
tions from  it  and  remarking  that  it  would,  of  course, 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  February  2,  1888. 


BISHOP  OF  OXFOKD  AND  HUXLEY      119 

appear  in  due  course  of  time  in  the  new  series  of  the 
Naturalist. 

The  ball  was  opened  by  a  paper  containing  diluted 
Owenism  by  Dr.  Collingwood,  followed  by  a  long  un- 
diluted atheistical  rigmarole  by  a  Prof.  Draper,  a  Yankee. 
After  this  a  hot  discussion  took  place.  Huxley  was 
called  upon  by  Henslow  to  state  his  views  at  greater 
length,  and  this  brought  up  the  Bp.  of  Oxford,  who  made 
of  course,  a  wonderfully  good  speech  if  the  facts  had  been 
correct.  Referring  to  what  Huxley  had  said  two  days 
before,  about  after  all  its  not  signifying  to  him  whether 
he  was  descended  from  a  Gorilla  or  not,  the  Bp.  chaffed 
him  and  asked  whether  he  had  a  preference  for  the 
descent  being  on  the  father's  or  the  mother's  side  ? 
This  gave  Huxley  the  opportunity  of  saying  that  he 
would  sooner  claim  kindred  with  an  Ape  than  with  a 
man  like  the  Bp.  who  made  so  ill  an  use  of  his  wonderful 
speaking  powers  to  try  and  burke,  by  a  display  of 
authority,  a  free  discussion  on  what  was,  or  what  was 
not,  a  matter  of  truth,  and  reminded  him  that  on  ques- 
tions of  physical  science  "  authority  "  had  always  been 
bowled  out  by  investigation,  as  witness  astronomy  and 
geology. 

He  then  caught  hold  of  the  Bp.'s  assertions  and 
showed  how  contrary  they  were  to  facts,  and  how  he 
knew  nothing  about  what  he  had  been  discoursing  on. 
A  lot  of  other  people  afterwards  spoke  ;  Brodie  on  the 
medical  view  of  the  thing,  which  he  did  very  temperately, 
declaring  that  at  present  it  was  impossible  to  say  what 
was  the  truth  ;  Lubbock,  a  son  of  Sir  John's,  who  is  a 
very  clever  young  fellow,  who  took  a  decided  Darwinian 
view,  and  Admiral  FitzRoy,  the  man  who  commanded 
the  Beagle,  and  who  had  better  have  let  it  alone. 

The  feeling  of  the  audience  was  much  against  the  Bp., 
and  Simpson,  who  had  been  very  anti-Darwin,  declared 
that  if  that  was  all  that  could  be  said  in  favour  of  the  old 
idea,  he  was  a  convert.  Not  so  Tristram,  who  waxed 
exceedingly  wrath  as  the  discussion  went  on,  and  declared 
himself  more  and  more  anti-Darwinian.  The  discussion 


120  EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

was  adjourned  until  the  Monday,  but  it  was  then  thought 
by  the  leaders  on  both  sides  that  it  had  better  be  dropped 
and  so  the  matter  rests. 

^  ??  the  Sunda^'  at  the  University  Church,  Temple, 
the  Master  of  Rugby,  treated  his  audience  to  a  sermon  on 
Darwinism,  in  which  he  espoused  Darwin's  ideas  fully  ! 
Nothing  very  particular  occurred  during  the  last  few 
days,  and  I  did  a  good  deal  of  lionising.  Oxford  is  no 
doubt  finer  than  Cambridge,  but  not  to  that  extent  that 
her  sons  make  out.* 

Tristram  had  been  the  first  zoologist  of  any  note 
who,  at  the  instance  of  Newton,  publicly  accepted  the 
Darwinian  views  by  his  paper  in  the  Ibis  of  October, 
1859  ;  his  re-conversion  at  Oxford  to  the  old  faith, 
perhaps  inspired  by  a  feeling  of  loyalty  to  the  Bishop' 
was  a  source  of  disappointment  to  Newton,  who  sought 
(unavailingly)  to  show  him  the  error  of  his  ways. 


Elveden, 
TUT  m  July  30»  186°- 

MY  DEAR  TRISTRAM, 

Much  is  to  be  conceded  to  a  man  afflicted  with 
a  Chancery  suit,  and  when  it  is  a  friend  who  is  so  afflicted 
one  s  feelings  are  those  of  the  deepest  compassion.  But 
compassion  and  friendship  are  strained  to  the  utmost  by 
your  assertion  that  Ph.  colchicus  and  Ph.  torquatus  are 
generally  acknowledged  "  to  be  local  varieties.  This 
assertion  I  deny  in  totissimo.  You  can  only  quote  two 
authorities,  who  do  "  acknowledge  "  it.  Cuvier  I  have 
not  by  me.  MacGillivray  is  by  no  means  unobjection- 
able, he  only  like  a  wise  man  goes  upon  what  he  has  seen, 
and  it  is  as  plain  as  daylight  that  when  he  wrote  he  had 
never  seen  a  torquatus  pur  sang.  But  I  will  generously 
come  to  your  assistance  and  furnish  you  with  another 
authority,—  Samuel,  by  Divine  Permission,  one  of  the 
Quarterly  Reviewers,  Bp.  of  Oxford,  a  member  of  the 
Council  of  the  Z.S.L.,  and  Chancellor  of  the  most  noble 

*  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  July  25,  1860. 


DARWINISM  121 

Order  of  the  Garter.  Read  in  the  last  number  of  that 
classical  journal  the  original  of  the  speech  spoken  to  the 
British  Asses — "  locutus  bos," — not  this  time  sapo- 
naceous *  but  downright  "  savage  and  tartarly."  I  am 
quite  converted.  I  was  (I  confess  it)  in  a  "  state  of  transi- 
tion," but  Darwinoid  I  might  have  remained  for  a  whole 
geological  seon.  The  Bishop's  speech  and  article  have 
caused  me  by  a  process  of  "  natural  selection  "  to  become 
something  better.  I  am  developed  into  pure  and  un- 
mitigated Darwinism. 

It  is  a  delightful  reflexion,  the  amount  of  charity 
with  which  one  can  regard  all  one's  fellow  creatures.  I 
am  no  better  than  the  rest  of  the  human  race.  It  is  true 
I  do  not  kill  and  eat  animals  quite  so  nearly  allied  to 
oneself  as  do  or  did  the  Maoris,  Caribs,  or  Ancient 
Britons.  But  the  difference  is  only  in  degree.  Oysters 
I  swallow  by  the  dozen,  button  mushrooms  and  straw- 
berries by  the  score,  and  green  peas  in  countless  numbers. 
It  is  amazing  how  digestion  is  soothed  by  the  placid 
thought  that  one  might  have  easily  sprung  from  another, 
and  perhaps  the  elder,  branch  of  the  family,  been  hatched 
a  turkey  and  stuffed  with  truffles  by  the  hand  of  a  chef, 
or  even  been  the  truffles  oneself,  instead  of  devouring  the 
same  in  persona. 

Serious  as  I  am  in  all  this,  I  am  still  more  serious 
when  I  say  that  I  wish  you  would  come  with  me  to 
Germany.  It  is  never  my  way  to  travel  expensively,  and 
I  am  sure  we  should  have  lots  to  say  to  one  another.  I 
will  start  in  ten  days  if  you  like. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

To  this  Tristram  replied — 

July  31,  1860.  .  .  .  I  quite  agree  with  you  that  you 
are  not  fit  to  be  trusted  to  go  to  Germany  without  a 
keeper.  In  fact,  Hanwell  is  the  only  fit  place  for  a 
Darwinian.  How  they  can  answer  the  Quarterly  I 
cannot  tell  except  by  the  argument  of  noise  and  sneers 

*  The  reverend  Prelate  was  irreverently  nicknamed  "  Soapy  Sam." 


122          EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

with  which  they  tried  to  put  down  S.  Oxon.  and  every  one 
else  who  did  not  subscribe  to  the  infallibility  of  the  God 
Darwin  and  his  prophet  Huxley.  Many  sane  men  have 
their  monomania.  Let  us  hope  yours  is  only  a  transitory 
one.  The  more  I  look  into  this  renovation  of  Lamarck, 
the  more  I  see  it  is  one  blind  plunge  into  the  gulph  of 
atheism  and  the  coarsest  materialism.  You  cannot 
stop.  It  is  like  a  Chancery  suit. 

The  result  of  the  Oxford  meeting  was  of  the  nature 
of  a  drawn  battle  between  the  Darwinians  and  the  anti- 
Darwinians.  In  the  following  year  the  British  Associa- 
tion met  at  Manchester. 

Though  the  ancient  beliefs  were  not  much  troubled, 
it  was  for  the  last  time  that  they  could  be  said  to  prevail ; 
and  thus  I  look  upon  our  meeting  in  Manchester  in  1861 
as  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  biology.  All  the  same,  the 
ancient  beliefs  were  not  allowed  to  pass  wholly  un- 
challenged ;  and  one  thing  is  especially  to  be  marked — 
they  were  challenged  by  one  who  was  no  naturalist  at  all, 
by  one  who  was  a  severe  thinker  no  less  than  an  active 
worker ;  one  who  was  generally  right  in  his  logic,  and 
never  wrong  in  his  instinct ;  one  who,  though  a  politician, 
was  invariably  an  honest  man — I  mean  the  late  Professor 
Fawcett.  On  this  occasion  he  brought  the  clearness  of 
his  mental  vision  to  bear  upon  Mr.  Darwin's  theory,  with 
the  result  that  Mr.  Darwin's  method  of  investigation  was 
shown  to  be  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of 
deductive  philosophy,  and  to  throw  light  where  all  was 
dark  before.* 

The  whole  account  you  will  see  in  the  Athenceum. 
How  that  we  fought  over  Darwinism  and  the  Gorilla. 
It  was,  I  think,  the  general  impression  that  the  former 
subject  had  gained  many  more  adherents  since  the  last 
meeting  than  any  one  had  thought  for.  Even  Owen  is 
prepared  "  to  take  quite  a  different  view  of  what  are 

*  A.  N.,  Presidential  Address  to  the  Biological  Section  of  the  British 
Association,  Manchester,  1887. 


OWEN  AND  HUXLEY  123 

called  species  from  that  which  was  generally  held  20 
years  ago,"  and  he  admits  that  species  may  have  had 
their  origin  in  second  causes  :  after  which  I  think  there 
is  nothing  worth  squabbling  about. 

About  the  Gorilla,  Owen,  I  do  not  think,  gained  any 
glory ;  he  asserted  the  old  old  story,  about  the  Hippo- 
campus minor,  etc.,  as  if  it  had  never  been  questioned  ; 
but  it  mightily  comforted  his  hearers  to  know  that  there 
was  all  that  difference  between  their  brains  and  a 
Gorilla's.  So  also  about  his  faith  in  Du  Chaillu,  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  he  does  not  believe  in  him,  and  only 
keeps  on  because  he  has  never  yet  confessed  himself 
wrong  about  anything.* 

The  meeting  at  Cambridge  in  1862  witnessed  the  last 
determined  resistance  of  the  anti-Darwinians  and  their 
ultimate  defeat. 

It  was  a  good  meeting,  all  the  better  for  not  being  too 
crowded.  There  was  a  grand  kick-up  again  between 
Owen  and  Huxley,  the  former  struggling  against  facts 
with  a  devotion  worthy  of  a  better  cause.  The  latter 
now  takes  it  easy  and  laughs  over  it  all,  but  Flower  and 
Rolleston  are  too  savage.  No  doubt  it  is  very  irritating 
when  Owen  will  not  take  the  slightest  notice  of  all  they 
have  done  and  proved,  and  Owen  does  it  all  in  such  a 
happy  manner,  that  he  carries  almost  conviction  from 
those  who  know  how  utterly  wrong  as  to  facts  he  is. 

I  had  meant  to  have  had  an  "Ibis"  dinner,  but  the  last 
was  the  only  evening  we  could  have  it,  and  then  a  lot  of 
others  wanted  to  dine  together,  so  it  ended  in  establishing 
a  new  "  Club  for  Promoting  Common  Honesty  "  and  we 
had  a  feed  at  the  "  Lion  "  under  the  presidency  of  Huxley, 
with  Kingsley  as  vice.  Ibises  are  to  be  ex-offieio  members  ! 
We  had  some  very  good  speechifying  from  both  chairmen 
and  others.  This  club,  I  believe,  was  founded  with  one 
rule  only,  and  that  was  that  any  one  drinking  Sclater's 
health  was  to  be  expelled  (this  was  Sclater's  stipulation 

*  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  September  25,  1861. 


124          EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

in  his  nervous  juxta-matrimonial  state,  and  the  only  con- 
dition under  which  he  would  allow  the  dinner  to  take 
place),  so  that  as  soon  as  Sclater  left,  which  he  did  early,  I 
proposed  his  health  and  every  one  drank  it ;  whereby  it  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  the  association  did  not  thereupon 
dissolve  itself  !  "  * 

Thenceforward  Newton  never  wavered  in  his  alle- 
giance to  Darwin's  views,  and  very  soon  (1863)  published 
in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Zoological  Society  an  interesting 
confirmation  and  illustration  of  Darwin's  remarks  on  the 
way  in  which  seeds  may  be  dispersed  by  birds,  describing 
the  case  of  a  partridge  which  had  been  found  with  its 
foot  firmly  imbedded  in  a  lump  of  hardened  earth.  When 
the  "  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication  "  was 
published  in  1868,  he  wrote  in  the  Record  of  Zoological 
Literature  a  detailed  and  very  appreciative  notice  of  it, 
dealing  more  particularly  with  the  Pigeons,  which  was 
acknowledged  most  cordially  by  Mr.  Darwin. 

Down,  Beckenham,  Kent, 
Feb.  9, 1870. 

DEAR  NEWTON, 

I  suppose  it  would  be  universally  held  ex- 
tremely wrong  for  a  defendant  to  write  to  a  Judge  to 
express  his  satisfaction  at  a  judgment  in  his  favour  ;  and 
yet  I  am  going  thus  to  act.  I  have  just  read  what  you 
have  said  in  the  Record  about  my  Pigeon  chapters,  and 
it  has  gratified  me  beyond  measure.  I  have  sometimes 
felt  a  little  disappointed  that  the  labour  of  so  many  years 
seemed  to  be  almost  thrown  away,  for  you  are  the  first 
man,  capable  of  forming  a  judgment  (excepting  partly 
Quatrefages)  who  seems  to  have  thought  anything  of 
this  part  of  my  work.  The  amount  of  labour,  corre- 
spondence, and  care,  which  the  subject  cost  me,  is  more 
than  you  could  well  suppose.  I  thought  the  article  in 
the  Athenceum,  written,  I  have  no  doubt,  by  Owen,  was 
very  unjust ;  but  now  I  feel  amply  repaid,  and  I  cordially 

*  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  October  8,  1862. 


THE  ZOOLOGICAL  RECORD  125 

thank  you  for  your  sympathy  and  too  warm  praise. 
What  labour  you  have  bestowed  on  your  part  of  the 
Record  !  I  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  speak  of  my  amount 
of  work. 

I  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  Sunday  which  you  and  the 
others  spent  here,  and  I  remain,  dear  Newton, 
Yours  very  sincerely, 

CH.  DABWIN. 

The  Record  of  Zoological  Literature  (the  name  was 
changed  with  the  seventh  volume.to  the  Zoological  Record) 
was  started  in  1864  by  the  late  Dr.  Albert  Giinther,  who 
edited  the  first  six  volumes.  Newton  was  from  the 
beginning  the  principal  contributor  of  details  of  ornitho- 
logical literature,  and  during  three  years — 1871  to  1873 — 
he  was  the  editor.  The  Record  was  so  necessary  to 
English-speaking  zoologists  that  when  it  proved  a 
financial  failure  as  far  as  the  publisher  was  concerned, 
the  Zoological  Record  Association  was  constituted, 
which  bore  the  expenses,  until  the  Zoological  Society 
took  over  the  publication  of  the  work.  Recently  it  was 
united  with  the  "Royal  Society's  International  Cata- 
logue," and  it  still  appears  annually  as  a  separate  volume 
of  that  Catalogue,  retaining  its  own  title.  Newton  was  so 
much  interested  in  its  continuance  that  he  declined  to 
receive  any  remuneration  for  his  contributions  or  for  the 
three  years  of  his  editorship. 

In  later  life,  with  characteristic  broadness  of  mind,  he 
appreciated  and  approved  of  the  principles  of  Mendelism, 
though  he  never  professed  to  follow  it  in  detail.  "  While 
the  early  stages  are  easy  enough  to  understand,  the  later 
steps  are  just  the  reverse,  and  I  confess  I  cannot  follow 
all  the  steps — nevertheless,  I  believe  in  its  universal 
truth." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  things  about  Mendelism 
is  that  it  tends  to  show  the  essentially  identical  nature  of 


126          EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

animal  and  vegetable  life.  Experiments  are  much  more 
easily  carried  on  (and  that  on  a  very  large  scale)  with 
plants  than  with  animals,  and  it  is  from  plants  that  what 
are  called  "  Laws  "  are  most  easily  deduced  ;  but  when 
you  can  make  what  is  really  the  same  experiment  on 
animals,  you  find  the  results  are  similar.  In  one  form  or 
another  this  has  now  been  tried  on  Rabbits,  Mice  of 
fancy  colours,  Canary-birds,  Pigeons,  domestic  Fowls, 
and  some  other  things,  and  I  am  assured  that  the  excep- 
tions to  the  Mendelian  principle  proving  true  are  exceed- 
ingly rare.  Bateson  and  Punnett  are  trying  to  find  out 
whether  these  rare  exceptions  may  not  be  the  result  of 
some  other  "  law  "  which  we  don't  at  present  know, 
and  it  seems  to  me  quite  possible  that  they  (B.  &  P.) 
will  succeed.  There  are  occasional  interruptions 
observable  in  plants,  and  the  cause  of  them  is  also  under 
observation. 

Years  ago,  when  I  first  began  lecturing  on  Evolution, 
I  used  to  point  out  that  so  far  as  we  could  judge  the 
phenomena  of  Hybridisation  were  precisely  similar  in 
animals  and  in  plants,  so  far  as  could  be  tested.  Some 
crosses  that  were  easily  made  (horse  and  ass)  were  abso- 
lutely sterile  ;  others  obtained  with  difficulty,  or  at  least 
seldom  (bovines)  were  perfectly  fertile  ;  and  so  on  with 
other  properties.* 

For  many  years  Newton  was  a  regular  attendant  at 
the  meetings  of  the  British  Association,  of  which  he  was 
placed  on  the  General  Committee  in  1860.  He  was  for 
some  years  Chairman  of  the  Close-time  Committee  and 
of  the  Migration  of  Birds  Committee.  At  different  times 
he  was  Secretary,  Vice-President,  and  President,  of  the 
Section  of  Zoology  and  Botany.  The  practice  of  some- 
times holding  the  meetings  in  the  Overseas  Dominions 
was  established  too  late  in  his  lifetime  for  him  to  take 
advantage  of  it,  and  he  particularly  regretted  being  unable 
to  join  the  party  which  visited  South  Africa  in  1905. 

*  Letter  to  J,  A.  Harvie- Brown,  July  25,  1906. 


BRITISH  ASSOCIATION  127 

Would  it  had  all  been  ten  years  ago,  and  then 
assuredly  I  should  have  been  of  the  party  !  But  my 
travelling  days  are  over.  A  curious  question  has  occurred 
to  me  :  Will  the  influx  of  all  these  British  Asses  ( 

-)  make  up  for  the  loss  of  the  vanished  Quagga  ? 


Every  one  I  have  met  is  charmed  with  the  whole 
business,  though  I  have  heard  of  one  man  who  got  tired 
of  it.  He  is  a  divine  and  felt  bound,  I  suppose,  to  take 
a  gloomy  view  of  things.  During  his  absence  his  con- 
gregation prayed  for  him  earnestly  in  a  combination 
from  the  form  to  be  used  at  sea  and  that  of  the  visitation 
of  the  sick, — he  is  a  bad  sailor, — and  I  am  told  the  result 
was  ludicrous !  * 

In  1875  Newton  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the 
British  Association,  and  he  took,  as  always,  much  trouble 
in  seeking  interesting  papers  for  the  Biological  Section. 
Writing  to  Mrs.  Strickland  (June  13,  1876)  he  drew  up 
the  following  imaginary  programme  for  the  Zoological 
Section  at  the  Bristol  meeting  : — 

Your  countryman  Mr.  Alston  is  going  to  be  Zoological 
Secretary  to  Section  D  this  year,  and  I  am  very  glad  of 
it,  for  he  will  work  it  up  well.  In  fact,  his  activity  is  so 
great  that  I  am  able  already  to  send  you  a  list  of  some 
of  the  proposed  papers.  //  he  gets  them,  we  shall  have 
a  crowd. 

Zoological  Papers. 

1  The  President's  Address.      On  the  Manufacture  of  Genera 

and  Species.    Eloge  of  the  late  Dr.  Gray. 

2  Mr.  F.  Buckland.    On  Fishery  Wares  and  Fishery  Weirs,1 

illustrated  by  models  of  machinery  and  implements. 

The  title  of  this  paper,  if  objected  to  as  belonging  rather  to 
Section  A,  may  be  changed  at  the  last  moment,  the  material  will 
remain  the  same. 

3  Dr.  Carpenter.    On  the  Bore  of  the  Bristol  Channel  in  rela- 

tion to  Deep  Sea  Soundings  carried  on  by  the  author 
(including  the  n  +  1th  chapter  of  an  unpublished  auto- 
biography). 

*  Letter  to  Col.  H,  W.  Feilden,  C.B.,  October  31,  1905. 


128  EARLY  DAYS  OF  DARWINISM 

4    Miss   Lydia    Becker.      On   some    Unnoticed    Points  in  the 

Theory  of  Sexual  Selection  as  applied  to  Entozoa. 
(5     Prof.  Mivart.     On  Dimorphism  in  the  Common  Frog. 
(6     Prof.  Huxley.     On  Man  as  an  Automaton. 

(7    Sir  J.  Lubbock.    On  the  Inability  of  Bees  to  avail  themselves 
of  Bank  Holidays. 
8    Cardinal  Manning.    On  Certain  Fallacies  in  Our  Estimate 
of  the  Intelligence  of  the  Lower  Animals. 

9    Captain  Lawson.*    Exhibition  of  Zoological  Specimens  col- 
lected in  New  Guinea. 
10    Dr.  Quackenbosh  (of  Chicago).     On  the  Colorado  Beetle.2 

2  Living  examples  of  this  destructive  animal  will  be  ex- 
hibited in  the  adjoining  room  in  charge  of  the  Quarantine 
officers  of  the  Port  of  Bristol. 

N.B. — The  papers  bracketed  will  be  taken  together. 

Forty  years  ago,  not  less  than  at  the  present  time, 
the  members  of  the  Association  attended  feasts  and 
functions  in  the  various  towns  they  visited.  An  amusing 
incident  occurred  at  the  opening  of  the  meeting  at 
Brighton — 

The  funniest  thing  I  witnessed  was  Sclater  being  taken 
for  Louis  Napoleon  the  first  night  and  received  by  the 
Mayor,  gold  chain  and  all,  with  "  How  many  seats  does 
your  Imperial  Majesty  want  ?  "  His  worship,  it  should 
be  said,  had  dined  !  Sclater  with  great  presence  of 
mind  presented  Tristram  as  the  Emperor,  whereon  the 
Mayor  got  furious  and  turned  to  me  with  "  Who  are  these 
persons  ?  "  It  should  be  added  that  we  drove  up  in  the 
Rowley  carriage,  rather  a  swell  affair,  to  the  platform 
entrance,  and  young  Rowley  who  had  gone  on  first,  when 
the  carriage  stopped,  exclaimed,  "  There  they  are," 
meaning  us  ;  but  the  Mayor,  etc.,  thinking  "  they  "  could 
only  mean  the  illustrious  exiles,  hurried  out  to  meet  us, 
and  altogether  it  was  exceedingly  comical. 

In  the  'seventies  Newton  was  a  regular  attendant 

*  Capt.  J.  A.  Lawson,  "  Wanderings  in  New  Guinea,"  1875.  Claimed 
to  have  climbed  in  a  few  hours  to  25,314  ft.  of  "  Mt.  Hercules," 
32,783  ft.  He  met  herds  of  wild  oxen,  troops  of  monkeys,  and  tigers  of 
great  size. 


THE   KED  LIONS  129 

at  the  dinner  of  the  Red  Lions,  a  Society  of  which 
Dr.  T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  writes  the  following  account: — 

THE  RED  LIONS. 

The  Red  Lions  are  a  sort  of  Society  or  Club,  composed 
of  members  of  the  British  Association.  Their  object  is 
convivial,  and  they  may  be  said  to  sleep  for  all  but  one 
evening  in  the  year,  when,  during  the  Meeting  of  the 
Association,  they  assemble  for  dinner.  The  arrange- 
ments for  this  are  made  by  two  members,  called  Jackals. 
How  these  are  elected  (I  think  they  continue  in  office 
unless  prevented  from  coming  to  a  Meeting) ;  what  body 
elect  a  "new  Lion"  (who,  I  think,  unless  a  permanent 
official  of  the  Association,  goes  through  a  year  of  pro- 
bation— when  he  is  called  a  cub),  I  do  not  know.  I  do 
not  remember  to  have  seen  any  copy  of  rules  and  they 
may  be  only  traditional,  but  rules  there  are.  The 
Chairman  (how  elected  I  do  not  know)  is  generally  one 
of  the  senior  members  of  the  Association,  known  to  be 
humorous  and  ready  of  speech — like  the  late  Sir  F. 
Bramwell  or  Sir  J.  Evans.  He  is  called  the  King  Lion. 
A  card  is  sent  by  the  Jackals  to  each  member  (Lion  A) 
to  say  that  "  Bones  will  be  provided  at  such  a  place  and 
hour  "  *  It  is  understood  that  each  Lion  will  be  as 
humorous  as  in  him  lies  and  abstain  from  anything  like 
serious  talk  with  his  neighbour.  After  dinner  comic 
songs  are  sung,  ludicrous  speeches  delivered,  burlesque 
lectures  or  papers  given,  which  are  often  most  amusing. 
At  York,  I  remember — in  1881 —  the  late  Roberts  Austen 
gave  a  parody  of  Prof.  Tyndall,  and  his  brother  Jackal, 
Atcheson  (afterwards  Secretary)  also  delivered  a  laugh- 
able piece  of  nonsense.  When  dinner  is  announced,  the 
"  Lions  "  roar  approvingly  as  they  go  into  the  room ;  and 
shake  the  tails  of  their  coats — supposed  to  be  wagging 
their  tails.  If  the  dinner  is  delayed  or  anything  is  not 
to  their  liking  they  growl ;  if  they  approve,  they  roar  and 

*  A  few  guests,  usually  gentlemen  from  the  place  of  meeting,  specially 
connected  with  the  Association,  are  invited. 


130  EABLY   DAYS   OF  DAEWINISM 

agitate  their  coat-tails.  They  address  the  Chair  as 
"  Your  Majesty."  Ordinary  applause  is  not  permissible. 
Philosophy,  in  short,  on  that  evening,  plays  the  fool,  and 
often  does  it  very  cleverly  and  wittily. 

At  the  Red  Lion  dinner  held  during  the  Glasgow 
meeting  in  1876  the  Lions'  humour  took  the  form  of 
telegraphic  greetings  supposed  to  have  been  sent  to  the 
Den  by  various  eminent  personages. 

Telegrams  received  and  read  to  the  Den  by  the  Lion 
King,  Glasgow,  Sept.  11,  1876:— 

1. 

Champs  Elysees, 

cet  onzieme  Septembre. 

La  France  qui  a  tant  souffert  sous  le  drapeau  rouge 
ne  craint  pas  les  Lions  de  ce  couleur.  Je  les  embrasse. 
Vive  la  France !  Vive  1'Association  britannique !  ! 
Vivent  la  solidarite  et  la  liquidarite  des  peuples  !  !  ! 

MACMAHON, 

Marechal  President. 
2. 

(Forwarded  by  the  kindness  of  the  Editor  of  the  D.T.) 
New  York  Herald  Office, 

Central  Africa. 
Latitude  and  Longitude  mixed. 

June  25,  1876. 
(Received  at  Alexandria,  September  10,  9.50  p.m.) 

Ascended  twin  peaks  over  50,000  feet.  Named  them 
Mounts  Herald  and  Telegraph.  Set  up  columns  of  each 
paper  on  both.  Stars  and  Stripes  float  on  one,  Union 
Jack  on  other.  Niggers  nasty  but  don't  relish  rifles. 
Shooting  first  class  lately.  Quite  a  store  of  explosives 
left,  but  whisky  giving  out,  having  met  missionaries. 
Make  most  of  Cameron  while  you  can  as  I  will  be  back 
soon. 

H.  M.  STANLEY. 
3. 

Varzin  den  11  ten,  September,  1876. 

Mein  allergnadigster  Herr  und  Gebieter,  der  deutsche 
Kaiser  sendet  seinem  Koniglichen  Bruder  herzlichen 


TELEGRAMS   TO  RED   LIONS  131 

Gruss,  und  er  bittet  den  Himmel  den  britischen  Verein 
vor  dem  Jesuiten  Hackel  zu  beschiitzen.  Darwinismus 
soil  nicht  in  Europa  existiren.  Drei  Armee  Corps 
werden  mobilisirt. 

BISMARCK. 

4. 

Romae,  Palatio  Vaticano,  hora  quindecima  diei 
Festae  Sci.  Mungonis,  Anno  trigesimo  primo 
pontificatus  nostri. 

Salus  et  benedictio  apostolica  Leonibus  Rubris. 
Rubri  olim  nosmet,  cor  nostri  jam  erubescit.  Dormit 
Antonellius.  Plenitudine  infallibilitatis  nostri  certiorem 
f acimus  fidelem  Haeckelium  f elicitatis  sempiternae.  Ilium 
virum  illustrum  in  gastrseo  nostro  nominavimus  "  Eccle- 
sise  Propugnator,"  et,  Bismarckio  nonobstante,  com- 
mendavimus  eum  Collegio  Sacrosancto  in  loco  nostro. 
Non  sunt  approbata  a  sede  apostolica  Mivartii  dogmata- 
Motu  proprio. 

Pius,  P.P. 

(No  Latin  dictionary  or  grammar  being  found  in  the 
Den,  the  foregoing  message  was  unintelligible  to  the 
assembled  Lions,  but  the  King  announced  that  he  had 
had  it  repeated  to  Professor  Jebb,  and  the  following  was 
soon  after  read  as  the  answer  received  from  that  eminent 
scholar.) 

Translation. 

Palace  of  the  Vatican,  Rome,  15  o'clock.  Feast 
of  Saint  Mungo,  in  the  XXXIst  year  of  our 
Pontificate. 

Health  and  Apostolic  benediction  to  the  Red  Lions. 
Once  Red  Ourselves,  Our  heart  still  warms  to  the  colour. 
Antonelli  is  at  his  siesta.  Empowered  by  Our  Infalli- 
bility we  assure  the  faithful  Haeckel  of  eternal  felicity. 
Henceforth  in  our  bosom  we  name  him  "  Champion  of 
the  Church,"  and  notwithstanding  Bismarck  commend 
him  to  the  Sacred  College  as  Our  successor.  The  doc- 
trines of  Mivart  are  not  yet  approved  by  the  Holy  See. 
Our  bowels  are  rather  better. 

Pius. 


132  EARLY  DAYS   OF  DARWINISM 

5. 

August  17,  1876, 
Lat-  90°  N.  common  meridian. 

(Received  at  Disco  Sept.  9.  Sent  out  at  3.43  p.m.  by 
express  Kajack.  Forwarded  by  command  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Admiralty.) 

North  Pole  reached  this  morning.    Not  so  high  as 
St.  Rollox's.     Scotchman  at  a  good  salary  found  in 
charge,   as  expected.     His  name  is   Thomson.    Bears 
becoming  troublesome,  buns  being  exhausted.    Weather 
sultry.    Refrigerators  have  proved  most  useful.     Start 
South  to-morrow,  meridian  of  route  as  yet  undecided. 
G.  S.  NARES,  Capt.,  R.N. 
H.M.S.  Alert. 

6. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 
Sept.  11,  1876. 

American  eagle  now  waving  centennial  wings  greets 
Red  Lion.  How  many  of  our  scientists  will  we  extradit 
in  swap  for  Huxley,  who  is  having  quite  a  nice  time  on 
this  side  and  concludes  to  stop  ?  Would  M'Kendrick 
like  Sitting  Bull  for  vivisection  ?  Wire  reply. 

U.   S.   GRANT. 

7. 

Oueida  Creek, 
Sept.  10,  1876. 

Marsh's  Brontotherium  too  much  for  me.  Have 
come  here  to  regenerate.  Very  comfortable.  Don't 
know  when  I  shall  return.  An  opening  for  Carpenter 
as  Noyes  is  effete.  Hepworth  not  thought  much  of  by 
sisterhood. 

T.  H.  HUXLEY. 

8. 

Board  of  Foreign  Relations,  Pekin,  llth  day  of 
Moon  Hien  Fung  (Month  of  Universal  Abund- 
ance, i.e.  Harvest  Moon)  Year  of  Confusion, 
4065. 

Blother  of  Sun  and  Moon  chinchin  Led  Lion  King. 
Blitish  Ass  pigeon  game  not  understand.  Too  muchee 
plenty  talkee-talkee  not  enough  washee-washee.  Nares 


PROFESSOKSHIP   OF  ZOOLOGY          133 

big  fool  go  North  Pole,  muchee  ice,  starvee-starvee. 
Thomson  wise  man  go  home  chow-chow  quack-quack 
and  bow-bow  with  Led  Lions.  Glosvenor  pigeon  no  go. 
Ahsin  too  muchee  savvy.  Lice  clop  vely  fine. 

Li.* 

Towards  the  end  of  1865  it  was  decided  by  the  Uni- 
versity of  Cambridge  that  the  teaching  of  Comparative 
Anatomy,  which  had  hitherto  been  a  part  of  the  duty  of 
the  Professor  of  Anatomy,  should  be  removed  from  his 
school  and  that  a  Professorship  of  Zoology  and  Compara- 
tive Anatomy  should  be  founded.  The  election  took 
place  on  March  1,  1866,  and  there  were  two  candi- 
dates, W.  H.  D.  Drosier,  M.D.,  of  Caius,  and  Alfred 
Newton,  M.A.,  of  Magdalene.  Drosier  had  been  twenty- 
second  Wrangler  in  1839  and  a  Senior  Fellow  of  his 
College.  He  was  a  great  sportsman,  and  is  described  as 
"  a  man  of  much  ingenuity  and  wide  knowledge  of 
anatomy  and  natural  history."  He  was,  moreover,  a 
man  of  considerable  property,  and  was  very  popular  in 
the  University.  Newton  was  armed  with  a  powerful 
array  of  testimonials  from  Owen,  Gould,  Gray,  Murchison, 
Sclater,  and  others.  It  was  the  bad  custom  in  those  days 
for  elections  to  be  made  by  the  Senate,  and  candidates 
were  required  to  canvass  for  votes,  as  in  a  parliamentary 
election.  It  often  happened  that  electors  gave  their  vote 
to  a  friend,  although  they  might  know  that  he  was  not 
the  best  candidate  for  the  post. 

Magd.  Coll., 

March  1,  1866. 

MY  DEAR  TRISTRAM, 

I  doubt  if  it  had  been  Horace's  luck  to  stand 
a  contested  election.  It  would  be  difficult  for  any  one 
then  to  keep  the  aequam  mentem,  and  I  admit  /  can't. 

*  The  authorship  of  these  "  telegrams  "  is  not  certain.  They  were 
found  among  Newton's  papers,  written  in  his  own  handwriting,  so  it  is 
probable  that  some  of  them,  at  all  events,  were  written  by  him. 


134  EARLY  DAYS   OF  DARWINISM 

Things,  however,  are  looking  somewhat  brighter.  Except 
Humphry,  the  Professor  (elect)  of  Anatomy,  I  have  all  the 
medicos  in  the  place  actively  against  me.  They  consider 
that  it  is  profanity  for  a  layman  to  be  a  dealer  in  bones. 
We  look  forward  to  seeing  Clayton's  white  teeth  grinning 
hideously  to-morrow,  and  it  is  too  probable  that  he  will 
bring  up  a  curate  of  his  who  has  a  vote.  ...  I  have  been 
interrupted  in  this  by  a  committee  meeting,  and  my  head 
is  full  of  nothing  but  pairs,  shufflers,  and  the  like.  The 
results  we  have  come  to  are  these — 

D.,  86  good +8  probable  =  94 

A.  N.,  101  good +16  possible  (shufflers)     =117 

Absent  or  not  voting       52 

Remains  of  doubtful        . .         . .         . .       16 

Total  Constituency 279 

I  would  willingly  exchange  my  16  possibles  for  D.'s 
8  probables. 

By  this  time  to-morrow  I  shall  be  a  man  or  a  mouse. 
Yours  ever, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

March  1,  1866 

Close  of  Poll  :— 

A.  N.  110— D.  82. 
Latis  Deo ! 

On  the  same  day  Charles  Kingsley,  whose  voting  on 
this  occasion  had  been  directed  by  his  heart  rather  than 
by  his  head,  wrote — 

March  1,  1866. 

MY  DEAR  NEWTON, 

Now  that  all  is  over,  I  must  sincerely  con- 
gratulate you,  though  I  would  not  have  you  (you  will 
understand  why)  tell  my  poor  dear  old  friend  Drosier 
that  I  have  done  so. 

You  have  fairly  deserved  this  post,  in  the  only  true 
sense  of  desert,  earning,  and  thereby  meriting,  and  I 
know  you  well  enough  to  be  as  sure  as  those  who  sup- 
ported you,  that  it  will  be  the  opening  of  a  career 


ELECTED   PROFESSOR  135 

honourable  to  yourself  and  to  the  University.    The  way 
in  which  you  took  my  voting  against  you  I  shall  always 
consider  as  a  personal  obligation  to  myself. 
Believe  me, 

Ever  yours  faithfully, 

C.   KlNGSLEY. 


CHAPTER  IX 

PROTECTION  OF   BIRDS 


NEWTON  had  only  been  Professor  at  Cambridge  for  two 
years  when  he  made  his  first  appearance  on  a  more  public 
platform.  As  Vice-President  of  the  Section  of  Zoology 
and  Botany,  at  the  British  Association  meeting  held  at 
Norwichin  1868,  he  read  a  paper  entitled,  "The Zoological 
Aspect  of  Game  Laws,"  in  which  he  clearly  showed  that 
the  wholesale  slaughter  of  many  of  our  birds  during  the 
breeding  season  would  shortly  result  in  their  extinction, 
unless  laws  were  passed  to  give  them  protection.  He 
began  by  condemning  the  exaggerated  and  over-coloured 
statements  of  those  well-intentioned  persons  who  write 
to  the  newspapers  on  the  subject  of  "  bird  murder,"  and 
argued  that  "  with  some  rare  exceptions  our  wild  animals 
have  no  great  reason  to  be  grateful  to  their  ordinary 
defenders  in  the  newspapers."  Though  some  mischief 
was  undoubtedly  done  by  enthusiastic  letter-writers,  he 
admitted  that  attention  had  been  drawn  to  the  question, 
and  that  there  was  a  growing  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
public  to  see  effectual  protection  extended  to  many  of 
our  wild  animals. 

By  far  the  most  complete  protection  is  that  afforded 
by  public  opinion.  Of  this  we  have  the  strongest  possible 
instance  in  the  case  of  the  Fox,  in  most  parts  of  these 
islands.  Not  much  more  than  a  century  ago  the  British 
farmer  was  only  induced  to  permit  the  galloping  of  horse 
and  hounds  across  his  seeds,  or  winter  corn,  by  the 
thought  that  they  were  doing  him  a  great  service  by 
ridding  him  of  a  pestilent  marauder,  and  he  would  hear 


PROTECTION  OF  BIRDS  137 

with  grim  satisfaction  that  the  scourge  of  his  wife's  hen- 
roost had  been  run  into  ;  or  he  would  willingly  at  a 
vestry  meeting  pass  the  churchwardens'  accounts  giving 
rewards  for  the  destruction  of  a  vixen  with  her  cubs, 
among  other  so-called  "  vermin."  Nowadays,  as  we 
know,  the  British  farmer  is  generally  in  the  "  first  flight  " 
of  the  horsemen,  and  the  Fox  has  no  friend  more  staunch. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  an  entire  change  of  feeling  has 
been  wrought  with  respect  to  this  species,  and  a  change 
of  the  most  effectual  kind." 

After  discussing  the  causes  of  the  extinction  in  this 
country  of  the  Bustard  and  the  Large  Copper  Butterfly, 
and  mentioning  the  beneficial  results  of  legislation  with 
regard  to  Salmon,  he  pleaded  for  an  effectual  measure  of 
protection  of  Birds  of  Prey  and  Sea-fowl.  With  regard 
to  the  former  he  convinced  his  audience  that  the  decrease 
of  Hawks  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  abundance  of  game, 
and  that  the  presence  of  Owls  is  absolutely  beneficial. 

Now  for  Sea-fowl — and  here  I  must  plead  guilty  to 
the  charge  (if  it  be  a  charge)  of  being  open  to  a  little  bit 
of  sentiment.  At  the  present  time  I  believe  there  is  no 
class  of  animals  so  cruelly  persecuted  as  the  sea-fowl 
which  throng  to  certain  portions  of  our  coast  in  the 
breeding  season.  At  other  times  of  the  year  they  can 
take  good  care  of  themselves,  as  every  gunner  on  the 
coast  knows  ;  but  in  the  breeding  season,  in  fulfilment 
of  the  high  command  to  "  increase  and  multiply  "  they 
cast  off  their  suspicions  and  wary  habits  and  come  to  our 
shores.  No  one  that  I  have  ever  heard  of  has  complained 
of  them  as  injurious  in  any  way.  Some  few,  as  the 
"  Scoulton  Peewits,"  settle  far  inland,  and  their  useful- 
ness as  they  follow  the  plough  is  everywhere  recognised. 
But  of  the  rest — I  never  heard  the  Willocks  or  Kittiwakes 
of  the  Yorkshire  coast  accused  of  raising  the  price  of 
herrings,  sprats,  and  oysters  !  I  think  we  may  fairly 
assume  that  they  are  innocuous  in  every  respect.  But 
how  do  we  treat  them  ?  Excursion  trains  run  to  convey 


138  PROTECTION  OF  BIRDS 

the  so-called  "  sportsmen  "  of  London  and  Lancashire  to 
the  Isle  of  Wight  and  Flamborough  Head,  where  one  of 
the  amusements  held  out  is  the  shooting  of  these  harmless 
birds.  But  it  is  not  merely  the  bird  that  is  shot  that 
perishes — difficult  as  it  is  to  say  where  cruelty  begins  or 
ends — that  alone  would  not  be  cruelty  in  my  opinion. 
The  bird  that  is  shot  is  a  parent — it  has  its  young  at 
home  waiting  for  the  food  it  is  bringing  far  away  from 
the  Dogger  Bank  or  the  Chops  of  the  Channel— we  take 
advantage  of  its  most  sacred  instincts  to  waylay  it,  and 
in  depriving  the  parent  of  life,  we  doom  the  helpless 
offspring  to  the  most  miserable  of  deaths,  that  by 
hunger.  If  this  is  not  cruelty,  what  is  ?  Can  men 
blaze  away  hour  after  hour  at  these  wretched  inoffensive 
birds  and  call  it  "  Sport "  without  being  morally  the 
worse  for  it  ?  We  thank  God  that  we  are  not  as  Spaniards 
are,  who  gloat  over  the  brutalities  of  a  bull-fight.  Why, 
here  in  dozens  of  places  around  our  own  coasts,  we  have 
annually  an  amount  of  agony  inflicted  on  thousands  of 
our  fellow-creatures,  to  which  the  torture  of  a  dozen 
horses  and  bulls  in  a  ring  are  as  nothing.  Surely  I  may 
be  pardoned  if  I  indulge  in  a  bit  of  sentiment  here  ?  I 
began  by  deprecating  over-coloured  statements,  or  I 
might  dwell  on  this  ghastly  picture  much  longer,  but 
there  is  one  painful  feature  which  it  is  said  has  been 
lately  superadded.  The  modern  fashion  of  ladies  wear- 
ing plumes  in  their  hats  is  said  to  give  an  impetus  to  the 
slaughter.  This  rests  on  good  authority.  Mr.  Cordeaux 
writes  of  the  Kittiwake  at  Flamborough  (Zoologist, 
p.  1009)  :  "  This  graceful  and  trustful  bird  is  threatened 
with  speedy  extinction  at  this  famous  breeding-place  ; 
thousands  have  been  shot  in  the  last  two  years  to  supply 
the  '  plume  trade.'  The  London  and  provincial  dealers 
now  give  one  shilling  per  head  for  every  White  Gull 
forwarded ;  and  the  slaughter  of  these  poor  birds  during 
the  season  (the  breeding  season,  remember)  affords 
almost  constant  and  profitable  employment  to  three  or 
four  guns.  One  man,  a  recent  arrival  at  Flamborough, 
boasted  to  me  that  he  had  in  one  year  killed,  with  his 


SLAUGHTER   OF  SEA-FOWL  139 

own  gun,  four  thousand  of  these  gulls  ;  and  I  was  told 
that  another  of  these  sea-fowl  shooters  had  an  order  from  a 
London  house  for  ten  thousand."  No  wonder  the  Kitti- 
wakes  are  rapidly  disappearing.  There  has  this  year  been 
a  marked  diminution  of  the  great  breeding  colony  in  the 
Speeton  Cliffs.  Fair  and  innocent  as  the  snowy  plumes 
may  appear  in  a  lady's  hat,  I  must  tell  the  wearer  the  truth 
— "  She  bears  the  murderer's  brand  on  her  forehead." 

Now  that  a  stop  should  be  put  to  this  wanton  and 
atrocious  destruction  of  a  species,  aggravated  as  it  is  by 
circumstances  of  peculiar  cruelty,  I  think  none  of  my 
audience  will  deny.  The  only  question  is  how  it  should 
be  done.  As  I  have  said  before,  no  doubt  public  opinion 
would  be  the  most  effectual  check ;  but  on  the  other 
hand,  I  fear  lest  by  the  time  we  can  hope  to  influence 
public  opinion  to  such  a  degree  that  Laricide  shall  be 
regarded  in  the  same  light  as  Vulpicide,  there  will  be  no 
more  Kittiwakes  on  our  coast  to  protect.  It  seems  to 
me,  after  due  reflection,  that  legislative  interference  is 
absolutely  required,  for  we  can  hope  to  excite  the  interest 
of  Parliament  in  the  matter  sooner  than  we  can  that  of 
the  nation  at  large.  And  this  brings  me  to  the  special 
object  of  this  paper.  In  many  countries,  as  you  are 
aware,  there  is  a  "  close  time  "  proclaimed  by  the  local 
authorities,  during  which  time  the  mere  act  of  carrying 
a  gun  is  an  offence  against  the  law.  I  need  scarcely  say 
that  this  "  close  time  "  extends  over  the  breeding  season. 

After  a  brief  description  of  the  "  close  time  "  orders 
in  force  in  certain  foreign  countries  and  British  colonies, 
he  concluded  his  paper  by  an  expression  of  hope  that  a 
"  close  time  "  would  soon  be  established  in  this  country. 
Although  there  had  been  discussions  about  the  destruc- 
tion of  birds  at  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in 
the  previous  year  at  Dundee,  the  meeting  at  Norwich 
was  the  first  occasion  on  which  the  question  of  "  close 
time "  by  legislation  had  been  publicly  advocated  by 
a  responsible  person.  Newton's  paper  was  widely 


140  PROTECTION  OF   BIRDS 

commented  on  by  the  journals  at  the  time,  and  it  made 
a  profound  impression  on  the  public  mind.  In  the 
following  year  (1869)  the  Sea  Birds'  Protection  Bill  was 
passed  by  Parliament.  Thus  it  may  be  said  that 
Newton's  paper  at  Norwich  was  the  first  stone  in  the 
foundation  of  the  many  Wild  Birds'  Protection  Acts 
which  have  subsequently  been  passed. 

Shortly  afterwards  the  British  Association  appointed 
a  Committee  "  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the 
desirability  of  establishing  '  a  close  time '  for  the  pre- 
servation of  indigenous  animals."  This  Committee,  of 
which  Newton  was  a  member  and  over  which  he  presided 
for  many  years,  took  an  active  part  in  promoting  the 
earlier  Bills  for  the  protection  of  birds,  and  the  members, 
of  whom  the  most  prominent  were  H.  B.  Tristram, 
J.  E.  Harting,  and  Newton,  were  frequently  called  upon 
to  give  evidence  and  advice  to  the  Committees  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  In  1872  a  bill  for  the  protection  of 
"  Wild-fowl "  was  brought  into  Parliament  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  Close-time  Committee,  and  so  many  un- 
toward changes  and  chances  befell  it  before  it  became  an 
Act  that  Newton  wrote  of  it — 

"  Save  me  from  my  foolish  friends  "  ought  to  be  a 
stave  in  the  spring-song  of  each  fowl  of  the  air  from  the 
Nightingale  which  warbleth  in  darkness  to  the  Dotterel 
which  basketh  at  noonday.  The  Bill,  as  at  first  proposed, 
was  framed  entirely  on  the  Sea-birds'  Preservation  Act, 
which  became  law  in  1869  and  had  already  proved  to  be 
a  successful  measure.  The  great  feature  of  it  was  its 
being  directed  to  a  definite  point — the  preservation 
during  the  breeding  season  of  those  birds  which,  beyond 
all  others,  were  subjected  to  cruel  persecution  at  that 
time  of  year — thousands  of  Wild  Ducks,  Plovers,  and 
Snipes,  being  constantly  to  be  found  in  the  poulterers' 
shops  throughout  the  spring  months,  not  only  killed 
while  they  are  breeding,  but  killed,  it  is  not  too  much  to 


CLOSE-TIME  COMMITTEE  141 

say,  because  they  are  breeding,  since  during  that  season 
they  put  off  much  of  their  natural  shyness  and  fall  easy 
victims  to  the  professional  gunners.  Furthermore,  all 
who  really  know  anything  of  birds  know  that  it  is  just 
those  kinds  which  are  rapidly  diminishing  in  number — 
some  of  them,  which  in  bygone  days  were  most  abundant, 
are  now  only  seen  as  stray  visitors.  There  is,  for  example, 
the  Avocet,  the  disappearance  of  which  can  be  plainly 
traced  to  its  destruction  by  gunners. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  its  original  form  the 
Bill,  as  suggested  by  the  Close-time  Committee  was  a 
practicable  scheme,  and  which  would  have  gone  far 
towards  the  protection  of  British  wild-fowl.  Unfor- 
tunately, in  an  almost  deserted  House,  Mr.  Auberon 
Herbert,  on  the  motion  for  going  into  Committee,  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying  by  a  majority  of  20  to  15,  an  "  instruc- 
tion "  to  extend  the  protection  accorded  under  the  Bill 
to  "  Wild-fowl  "  to  other  wild  birds,  and  thereupon  the 
spirit  of  the  Bill  was  entirely  changed,  and  it  was  con- 
verted from  the  reasonable  measure  originally  contem- 
plated into  one  of  indefinite  and  general  scope.  It  was 
at  once  evident  that  in  its  new  shape  it  would  be  im- 
practicable, and  notice  was  speedily  given  for  its  rejection. 
Finally,  it  was  referred  to  a  Select  Committee,  by  whom 
its  sweeping  clauses  were  limited  by  the  introduction  of 
schedules  of  certain  birds  to  be  protected,  while  the 
penalties  were  diminished.  No  ornithologist  whose 
opinion  could  carry  the  slightest  weight  appears  to  have 
been  consulted,  and  no  ornithologist  was  among  the 
twenty-three  members  forming  the  Select  Committee. 

Mr.  Herbert,  on  the  21st  of  June  last,  laid  a  cuckoo's 
egg  in  the  carefully-built  nest  of  the  British  Association 
Committee,  and  the  produce  is  a  useless  monster — the 
wonder  alike  of  the  learned  and  the  layman,  and  an  awful 
warning  as  an  example  of  amateur  legislation.* 

*  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  July  10,  1872. 


142  PROTECTION   OF   BIRDS 

I  am  in  a  state  of  great  uncertainty  as  to  the  Bill,  and 
am  as  often  as  not  inclined  to  hope  it  may  fail  to  pass. 

The  inclusion  of  the  Owl  is  no  doubt  a  gain  in  itself, 
but  considering  the  cost  of  it  I  question  it  being  worth 
the  price.  Owls  are  and  were  in  no  danger  of  extermina- 
tion, but  gamekeepers'  backs  will  be  put  up  by  the  Bill 
if  it  passes,  and  they  will  make  a  point  of  killing  them 
now  with  all  the  vigour  possible.  It  would  have  been 
better  to  have  let  public  opinion  gradually  come  round 
as  it  was  coming  round  as  to  the  utility  of  these  and  other 
birds.  All  the  rest  of  the  additions,  saving  perhaps  the 
Kingfisher  and  Bearded  Titmouse,  are  utterly  useless,  for 
none  of  them  are  in  any  danger  of  extermination,  as  are 
the  "  Wild-fowl "  pure  and  simple.  The  penalty  with 
costs  would  have  been  so  plainly  inordinate  for  killing  a 
Robin  Redbreast  or  a  Hedge  Sparrow  that  they  were 
compelled  to  reduce  it  to  one-fourth  the  limit  (5s.  instead 
of  £l)  and  make  it  include  costs.  It  will  now  be  scarcely 
worth  any  one's  while  to  put  the  Act  in  force,  and  in  the 
case  of  many  Wild-fowl  the  gunner  will  get  more  for  his 
bird  than  will  repay  him  for  all  trouble  and  expense,  even 
if  prosecuted  and  convicted.  All  this  we  owe  to  the  fools 
of  enthusiasts.  The  Wild-Fowl  Bill,  followed  next  year 
by  one  for  the  regulation  of  birdcatchers  would  have  done 
far  more  good.* 

In  spite  of  the  protests  of  Newton  and  other  members 
of  the  Close-time  Committee,  the  Bill  became  law,  and  so 
far  as  the  Wild-fowl,  which  it  was  primarily  designed  to 
protect,  were  concerned,  it  remained  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  a  dead  letter. 

The  penalties,  which  were  not  at  all  out  of  proportion 
to  the  marketable  value  of  Wild-fowl  out  of  season  by  a 
professed  gunner,  were  reduced  to  meet  the  case  of  a 
child  who  might  thoughtlessly  throw  a  stone  at  a  Robin, 
and  indeed,  for  the  first  offence  no  penalty  was  to  be 
inflicted — but  the  culprit  only  cautioned  and  dimissed 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  July  29,  1872. 


WILD   BIRDS'   PROTECTION   ACT        143 

on  payment  of  costs.  The  Act  therefore  has  been  per- 
fectly useless — as -the  real  friends  of  bird  protection  fore- 
saw it  would — in  regard  to  Wild-fowl,  and  their  persecu- 
tion goes  on  as  actively  as  ever.  For  the  last  two  years 
the  shops  have  been  full  of  Plovers,  Snipes,  Wild  Ducks, 
etc.,  long  after  the  breeding  season,  i.e.  the  so-called 
"  Close-time,"  began,  just  as  though  no  Act  existed.  I 
need  scarcely  point  out  to  you  that  no  birds  are  decreasing 
more  rapidly  in  this  country  than  Wild-fowl  of  all  kinds, 
and  this  is  quite  as  much  owing  to  the  way  in  which  they 
are  shot  down  during  the  breeding  season,  when  they 
become  comparatively  tame,  as  to  drainage  and  improved 
cultivation.* 

The  most  important  of  the  Wild  Birds'  Protection 
Acts  was  that  of  1880,  which  definitely  established  the 
principle  of  a  close  time  for  all  wild  birds  between 
March  1  and  August  1,  with  the  imposition  of  a  penalty 
for  any  infringement  of  that  regulation,  and  a  more  con- 
siderable penalty  in  the  case  of  certain  birds,  which  were 
specially  named  in  the  schedule.  Unfortunately  the 
members  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  did  not  always 
agree  as  to  what  birds  should  be  included  in  the  schedule 
with  the  members  of  the  "  Close-time "  Committee, 
who  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  promoting  the  Bill. 
One  of  the  disputed  birds  was  the  Skua,  which  was  not 
considered  by  the  Lords  to  be  worthy  of  special  protec- 
tion ;  it  may  be  said  that  both  species  were  eventually 
included  in  the  schedule. 

July  26,  1880. 

DEAR  WALSINGHAM, 

I  am  very  sorry  that  the  Duke  of  Argyll  should 
object  to  any  protection  being  accorded  to  Skuas.  They 
are,  of  course,  predatory,  but  I  utterly  deny  their  being 
"  mischievous  and  destructive."  We  have  two  species 
which  breed  in  Britain ;  the  commoner  and  smaller 

*  A.N.  to  Lord  Walsingham,  January  27,  1875. 


144  PROTECTION   OF   BIRDS 

species  in  Pennant's  time  bred  in  many  of  the  Hebrides, 
Islay,  Jura  and  Rum.  It  has  been  for  some  years  quite 
extinct  in  Jura,  and  the  last  met  in  Rum  that  I  have 
any  record  of  was  in  1837.  There  are  still  stations  on 
both  the  Uists,  Lewis,  and  some  others  of  the  Hebrides. 
A  few  pairs  breed  in  parts  of  Sutherland  and  Caithness, 
and  again  in  Orkney  and  Shetland  ;  but  nowhere  is  the 
species  sufficiently  abundant  to  do  any  real  harm,  while 
the  decrease  within  the  past  century  of  its  breeding 
quarters  shows  that  it  is  a  species  which  will  soon  dis- 
appear, if  subjected  to  the  same  conditions  as  formerly. 
Its  extirpation  as  a  British  species  would  be  a  positive 
loss,  not  only  to  our  Fauna,  but  it  so  happens  that  to  a 
scientific  zoologist  it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  species 
we  have,  because  it  is,  I  believe,  the  only  one  of  our 
birds  which  commonly  exhibits  "  dimorphism  "  in  its 
plumage,  and  ornithologists  have  been  at  their  wits'  end 
to  explain  the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  this  peculiarity. 
They  would  lament  its  extinction  as  a  very  great  loss. 

Of  the  other  species,  the  Great  Skua,  much  more  is 
to  be  said.  I  believe  it  now  breeds  only  on  the  most 
northern  of  the  Shetland  Islands,  and  that  it  does  so  is 
due  to  the  influence  of  three  successive  generations  of 
the  Edmunston  family.  Their  conduct  in  this  respect 
has  been  for  upwards  of  50  years  held  up  to,  and  by, 
ornithologists  as  a  most  laudable  example,  and  in  my 
opinion  nothing  could  be  more  detrimental  to  the  hopes 
of  those  who  desire  to  preserve  to  posterity  our  more 
interesting  birds  than  the  striking  of  this  bird's  name  out 
of  the  schedule.  I  have  been  always  looking  forward  to 
a  fitting  opportunity  when  I  could  get  the  Zoological 
Society  to  award  its  silver  medal  to  the  head  of  the 
Edmunston  family  as  an  acknowledgment  of  their 
meritorious  conduct  in  keeping  this  species  a  living 
member  of  the  British  Fauna  ;  for  without  them  it  would 
long  since  have  "  gone  under."  But  I  will  admit  that 
the  Edmunston  family  may  have  (in  the  beginning)  pre- 
served this  bird  from  motives  of  personal  advantage  ; 
still  their  feelings  are  shared  by  others  who  inhabit  the 


THE  SKUA  145 

same  island,  and  I  enclose  an  extract  from  a  paper 
written  many  years  since,  to  show  what  are  the  feelings 
of  the  people  of  Shetland  on  the  subject.  That  this 
feeling  exists  now  I  have  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Howard 
Saunders  who  was  in  Unst  last  summer,  and  to  allow 
the  Great  Skua  to  be  exterminated  there  would  in  these 
days  be  an  outrage. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

Extract  from  Mr.  R.  Drosier's  "  Account  of  an 
Ornithological  Visit  to  Shetland  and  Orkney,"  Magazine 
of  Nat.  Hist.,  vol.  iii.  p.  322  :— 

The  Skua  Gull,  called  by  the  natives  "  Bonxie,"  is 
held  and  cherished  by  them  with  the  greatest  veneration 
and  kindness,  and  nothing  hurts  their  feelings  more  than 
to  see  the  death  of  their  favourite  bird.  I  was  particu- 
larly requested  by  two  or  three  elderly  natives,  to  spare 
this  bird  :  as  to  the  Skua  were  almost  entirely  trusted 
the  care  and  protection  of  their  lambs,  during  the  summer 
months,  that  are  always  allowed  to  wander  unrestrained 
over  the  island.  These  birds  possess  an  inveterate  dislike 
against  the  Eagle  and  Raven ;  for  no  sooner  does  the 
broad  and  rounded  wing  of  the  Eagle  appear  emerging 
from  his  rocky  habitation  amid  the  cliffs,  than  the  Skua 
descends  upon  him  from  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  in 
bodies  of  3  or  4,  and  never  fail  to  force  the  eagle  to  a 
precipitate  retreat.  The  natives  always  reward  this 
service  by  casting  from  their  boats  the  refuse  portion  of 
the  fresh-caught  fish,  which  he  seizes  with  greedy 
avidity,  snatching  it  almost  from  the  hands  of  the 
fishermen. 

There  was  a  strongly  supported  amendment,  which 
was  eventually  dropped,  to  make  bird's-nesting  an  offence 
under  the  Act  of  1880.  About  this  Newton  wrote  to 
Lord  Walsingham  (July  18,  1880)  :— 

I  do  hope  you  will  resist  any  attempt  made  by 


146  PKOTECTION   OF  BIRDS 

sentimental  people  to  make  egg- taking  an  offence.  If 
it  were  so  there  would  be  endless  trouble — parents 
wouldn't  pay  the  fines  for  their  children,  and  the  gaols 
would  be  full  of  boys. 

Though  the  "  sentimental  people  "  did  not  succeed 
in  their  endeavours,  the  poulterers  were  more  persistent, 
and  in  1881  an  amending  Act  greatly  facilitated  the 
importation  of  game  and  wild-fowl  killed  abroad. 

The  question  of  protecting  birds'  eggs  was  several 
times  seriously  considered  by  the  Close-time  Committee, 
and  after  that  Committee  ceased  to  exist  the  British 
Association  appointed  a  Committee  in  1891  and  1892 
"  to  consider  proposals  for  the  legislative  Protection  of 
Wild  Birds'  Eggs."  In  1893  a  Bill  was  introduced  into 
Parliament  by  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell,  Bart.,  the  aim  of 
which  was  to  enable  County  Councils  to  prohibit  the 
taking  of  the  eggs  of  such  species  of  birds  as  it  might 
seem  desirable  to  name  in  different  localities.  The  Bill 
passed  the  House  of  Commons,  then  it  was  amended  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  chiefly  at  the  instance  of  Lord 
Walsingham,  prompted  by  Newton,  then  it  was  recon- 
structed by  the  Standing  Committee  and  finally  dropped 
because  in  its  altered  form  it  was  not  acceptable  to  its 
original  promoter. 

After  its  introduction  notes  on  the  Bill  were  written 
by  Newton  and  privately  circulated  among  members  of 
both  Houses.  These  notes  *  so  clearly  define  his  views 
on  the  important  question  of  egg-collecting  that  no 
apology  is  needed  for  repeating  extracts  from  them 
here. 

It  undoubtedly  appears  that  it  might  be  advisable  to 
some  extent  to  give  effect  to  the  desire  expressed  by  many 
people,  that  some  restrictions  of  what,  for  brevity's  sake, 

*  Afterwards  published  in  "  The  Annals  of  Scottish  Natural  History," 
April,  1894. 


EGG-COLLECTING  147 

may  be  called  "  egging,"  should  be  enacted.  The 
question  then  arises  of  what  nature  these  restrictions 
should  be.  It  seems  very  simple  to  those  who  have  not 
fully  considered  it ;  but  those  who  have  seriously  reflected 
upon  it  find  it  beset  by  many  complications,  and  very 
difficult  of  solution.  Most  people,  however,  will  admit 
that  birds'  eggs  are  much  more  exposed  to  depredation 
in  certain  places  than  in  others,  and  this  only  at  certain 
times. 

Proof  of  this,  if  wanted,  is  supplied  by  the  fact  that 
in  several  parts  of  England  private  persons  have  formed 
small  local  associations  to  pay  watchers,  during  a  few 
weeks  in  the  breeding  time,  for  the  protection  of  the 
birds  frequenting  particular  localities — such  as  the  Fame 
Islands,  the  sandhills  near  Wells  in  Norfolk,  Breydon 
Water  between  Norfolk  and  Suffolk — which  I  mention 
because  I  myself  subscribe  to  them.  It  may  be  that 
there  are  others. 

To  me  one  way  of  treating  the  question  seems  pre- 
ferable to  any  other  that  has  been  suggested,  and,  indeed, 
after  many  years'  consideration  the  only  one  practicable. 
This  is  to  give  the  local  authority  (County  Council  or 
Justices  in  Quarter  Sessions),  subject  to  the  assent  of  a 
central  authority,  power  to  prohibit  all  egging  in  certain 
definite  places  for  a  certain  definite  time.  Such  prohibi- 
tion would  probably  be  confined  to  comparatively  small 
bounds — an  island,  a  sea-beach,  cliffs,  or  sandhills 
adjoining  the  shore,  a  heath,  common,  wood  or  forest,  a 
public  park,  a  mere  or  broad  with  the  surrounding  land, 
or  so  on,  and  would  be  locally  known,  so  that  the  risk 
of  boys  being  sent  to  gaol  would  be  greatly  lessened. 
Moreover,  all  egging  being  prohibited  within  the  pre- 
scribed limits  during  the  inhibited  period  there  would  be 
no  need  of  attempting  to  prove  that  an  egg  found  in  the 
captor's  possession  was  that  of  a  protected  species,  such 
proof  being  in  many,  if  not  in  most  cases,  as  every 
practical  ornithologist  knows,  absolutely  impossible,  if 
the  defendant  were  advised  by  an  ingenious  counsel ; 
for,  in  the  greater  number  of  cases,  an  egg  could  not  be 


148  PROTECTION  OF  BIRDS 

proved  to  be  that  of  any  particular  kind  of  bird,  unless  a 
witness  could  swear  that  he  saw  the  bird  lay  it. 

Egging  may  be  considered  to  be  carried  on  chiefly 
by  three  classes  of  persons  : — 

First,  there  is  the  man  who  for  years  has  gathered  the 
eggs  of  Plovers  and  certain  marsh-  or  sea-birds  for  edible 
purposes,  whereby,  if  he  be  an  adept,  he  is  able  by  their 
sale  in  the  open  market  to  add  considerably  to  his  own 
livelihood.  This  man,  I  believe,  would  rejoice  at  a 
"  close-time  "  being  enforced,  after  the  first,  second,  or 
third  laying  of  the  birds,  for  the  places  where  he  plies  his 
calling,  so  as  to  allow  the  hatching  of  the  second,  third, 
or  fourth  laying  (as  the  case  may  be) — and  most  of  the 
birds  with  which  he  is  concerned  lay  twice,  thrice,  or  four 
times  in  the  season — and  so  ensure  the  unimpaired 
continuation  of  the  breed. 

Secondly,  there  is  the  ordinary  schoolboy,  whose 
depredations  are  at  times  extremely  annoying  to  the 
owners  or  occupiers  of  gardens,  plantations,  and  the 
like,  but  declared  by  the  "  Close-time  "  Committee  to 
have  little  or  no  effect  in  reducing  the  number  of  birds 
in  general,  though  their  continuance  year  after  year  in 
particular  districts  may  locally  produce  that  effect.  Now 
it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  ordinary  schoolboy,  as  a 
rule,  is  quite  indifferent  as  to  the  kind  of  bird  whose  nest 
he  may  rob,  and  any  restriction  as  to  protected  or  unpro- 
tected species  would  be  wholly  lost  upon  him.  To  this 
rule  there  are  some  exceptions,  and  the  exceptions  often 
grow  up  to  be  fair  naturalists. 

Thirdly,  there  is  the  "  collector,"  who  is  only  some- 
times a  naturalist  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  When 
he  is  one,  he  may  be  safely  trusted  to  do  no  harm  ;  but 
more  often  he  is  a  dealer,  and  his  influence  on  the  whole 
is  destructive  to  the  less  common  kinds  of  birds,  though 
even  to  this  there  are  exceptions — as  for  instance  the 
notable  case  of  the  Golden  Eagle,  which  in  Scotland 
would  have  become  extinct,  as  the  Sea  Eagle  has,  were 
it  not  that  the  price  the  "  collector  "  pays  for  its  eggs 
ensures  its  preservation  at  the  hands  of  shepherds, 


EGG-COLLECTING  149 

foresters,  and  gillies — but  these  exceptions  are  not 
numerous,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  dealing 
"  collector  "  is  in  these  days  an  evil,  so  that  no  true 
naturalist  could  object  to  see  obstacles  put  in  his  way. 
Whether  he  would  not  be  astute  enough  to  escape  the 
meshes  of  any  Act  of  Parliament  could  only  be  ascertained 
after  trial ;  but  certainly  an  Act  to  check  his  proceedings 
must  be  very  different  from  the  present  Bill,  which,  I  feel 
sure,  would  hardly  touch  him.  He  is  well  enough  off  to 
employ  counsel  if  charged,  and  of  his  own  knowledge 
would  be  able  to  indicate  a  line  of  defence  that  would 
ensure  his  acquittal  perhaps  in  nineteen  cases  out  of 
twenty,  whatever  might  be  the  evidence  of  the  pro- 
secution. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  ordinary  schoolboy  could  not 
afford  counsel ;  and,  being  ignorant  of  the  mode  of 
escape,  would  be  almost  invariably  convicted.  If  the 
Bench  before  whom  he  was  brought  let  him  off  with  a 
reprimand  and  a  nominal  penalty,  a  few  cases  of  the  kind 
would  render  the  Act  ridiculous.  If  the  Bench  inflicted 
a  serious  fine,  and  in  default  of  payment,  as  would 
commonly  happen,  he  went  to  gaol,  the  country  would 
very  properly  ring  with  an  outcry  against  an  Act  which 
brought  that  fate  upon  him  for  doing  what  an  ancient 
authority — still  respected  by  some  people — held  to  be 
irreprehensible  (see  Deuteronomy  xxii.  6,  7). 

But,  as  already  hinted,  there  are  places  in  which  the 
schoolboy  may  do  real  harm,  and  I  see  no  injustice  in 
limiting  him  to  some  extent,  while  the  "  collector  "  is 
generally  baneful ;  and,  as  I  have  tried  to  show,  the  man 
who  gathers  eggs  to  eke  out  a  living  would  be  content,  if 
not  pleased,  with  restrictions  that  would  tend  to  multiply 
the  birds  which  produce  them — just  as  professional 
gunners  now  admit  that,  since  the  passing  (in  1876)  of 
the  Wild-Fowl  Preservation  Act,  there  are  more  Wild- 
fowl to  shoot.  I  therefore  strongly  urge  that  the  present 
Bill  be  amended  so  as  to  enable  places  and  not  species 
to  be  protected.  It  is  an  historical  fact  that  old  laws, 
which  certainly  did  not  err  on  the  side  of  leniency, 


150  PROTECTION  OF  BIRDS 

prohibiting  the  taking  of  the  eggs  of  the  Bustard,  Crane, 
Spoonbill,  and  Wild  Goose,  have  not  saved  those  species 
from  extirpation  in  England,  and  a  naturalist  may  well 
doubt  whether  any  law  of  that  kind  would  have  a  bene- 
ficial effect  on  any  species  whose  numbers  are  now 
dwindling  ;  but  no  one  can  doubt  that  if  certain  localities, 
judiciously  chosen,  were  reserved  as  breeding  places  by 
inhibiting  in  them  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  as  may 
seem  advisable,  the  molestation  of  all  birds  frequenting 
them,  a  considerable  number  of  species,  the  numbers  of 
which  are  surely  decreasing,  would  thereby  take  benefit, 
and  this  with  proper  precautions,  without  much  risk  of 
mischief,  which  I  believe  the  Bill  in  its  present  shape  will 
inevitably  produce. 

Some  of  Newton's  proposals  for  altering  the  Bill  of 
1893  are  more  fully  stated  in  the  following  letter  : — 

May  28,  1893. 

MY  DBAS  WALSINGHAM, 

I  thank  you  for  your  letter  of  yesterday.  I  am 
confident  that  my  proposal  for  places  of  refuge  will  be 
found  practical.  Take  for  instance  the  Wells  "  meals  " 
or  sand-hills  (mentioned  in  my"  Notes  "),  where  we  are 
at  present  put  to  some  expense  in  protecting  Terns'  eggs, 
and  only  succeed  in  doing  so  through  the  constant 
supervision  of  Feilden.  Here  the  "  order  "  might  define 
the  inhibited  place  as  beginning,  say,  half  a  mile,  or  one 
mile,  from  Wells  Church,  and  then  extending  for  two 
miles  along  the  coast,  and  500  (?)  yards  inland  from  high- 
water  mark.  Within  that  area  all  egging  should  be  pro- 
hibited, say,  from  the  1st  or  15th  day  of  May  (so  as  to 
leave  time  for  the  proper  gathering  of  Plovers'  eggs)  to 
the  1st  July  in  each  year.  The  same  could  be  done  with 
any  of  the  Broads  ;  take  Hickling  for  instance,  including 
Heigham  Sound,  almost  the  only  breeding  place  of  the 
Bearded  Titmouse  and  Ruff  that  is  left.  There  the  limit 
might  be  500  yards  from  the  water's  edge.  Notice- 
boards,  or  placards  warning  people  of  the  inhibited  area 


PROTECTION  OF  AREAS  151 

and  period,  should  be  stuck  up  at  the  boundaries,  as 
many  as  may  be  wanted. 

I  don't  at  all  want  to  see  these  preserved  places 
made  too  numerous  ;  and,  though  I  have  little  faith  in 
County  Councils,  I  believe  they  would  not  care  to  act 
except  on  requisition  from  competent  persons  ;  but  if  the 
principle  on  which  the  Bill  is  drawn  is  allowed  to  stand 
I  can  see  no  end  to  their  absurdities,  and  yet  none  would 
be  convicted  but  ignorant  schoolboys  who  were  taking 
Thrushes',  Robins',  Chaffinches'  and  other  common 
birds'  eggs  ;  for  those  are  just  the  birds  that  would  be 
named  by  County  Councillors,  being  all  they  have  ever 
heard  of. 

The  mercantile  collector  who  does  what  mischief  is 
really  done  in  the  case  of  rare  or  expiring  species  would 
always  get  off  ;  for  he  would  insist  on  proof  being  given 
that  the  egg  in  question  was  that  of  one  of  the  prohibited 
birds,  and  would  be  able  to  puzzle  any  ordinary  (or  even 
expert)  witness  by  exhibiting  other  eggs  not  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  it,  so  that  no  bench  could  convict. 

Another  point  on  which  I  lay  much  stress  is  being 
able  to  implicate  any  one  conveying  anybody  else  to  a 
reserved  place  with  intent,  etc.  This  would  make  boat- 
men and  "  trap  "  drivers  very  cautious  about  strangers 
of  whom  they  knew  nothing ;  and  there  is  no  pro- 
vision for  demanding  names  or  detaining  suspected 
delinquents. 

I  will  not  bore  you  further,  and  trusting  that  you  will 
give  the  matter  your  attention, 
I  remain, 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  Protec- 
tion of  Birds,  February,  1894,  Newton  commented  on  the 
Bill  of  the  previous  year  and  expressed  the  opinion  that 
if  it  had  been  carried,  one  of  the  "  most  useless  and  mis- 
chievous measures  would  have  been  added  to  the 
Statute  Book."  He  then  proceeded  to  give  his 


152  PROTECTION  OF   BIRDS 

audience  a  practical  exhibition  of  the  difficulty,  even  the 
impossibility,  of  identifying  birds'  eggs. 

I  have  in  this  box  the  egg  of  a  Reeve,  side  by  side 
with  the  egg  of  a  Redshank,  and  that  of  a  Lapwing,  and 
the  difference  can  hardly  be  discovered.  If  you  protect 
the  Reeve  you  must  extend  the  same  favour  to  the 
Redshank  and  Lapwing,  and  thus  you  interfere  with  the 
Plover's  egg  trade.  The  idea  of  the  Committee  of  the 
British  Association  is  to  give  local  authorities  power  to 
protect  certain  areas,  in  which  you  must  prohibit  the 
taking  of  all  eggs  within  certain  dates. 

In  the  same  year  The  Wild  Birds'  Protection  Act, 
1894,  which  was  drafted  by  the  Society  for  the  Protection 
of  Birds,  and  introduced  by  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell,  became 
law,  but  it  was  still  marred  (in  Newton's  opinion)  by  the 
attempt  to  protect  by  schedule  of  species,  and  he  still 
kept  hammering  away  at  trying  to  induce  people  to 
accept  the  more  practical  means  of  reserved  areas. 

I  do  not  know  whether  you  ever  saw  some  "  Notes  " 
that  I  wrote  on  Maxwell's  first  Bill  (1893), [but  they  were 
reprinted  at  H.  Brown's  request  in  the  Scott.  Nat.  for 
last  year.  The  argument  I  therein  advanced  is  in  my 
belief  as  good  now  as  ever,  though  (as  you  know)  the 
existing  Act  is  a  modification  of  what  Maxwell  originally 
intended,  but  the  mischief  (as  I  conceive)  of  trying  to 
protect  the  eggs  of  species  by  name  still  remains  as  an 
alternative.  The  more  I  consider  the  subject  the  more 
certain  I  am  that  the  principle  of  "  area  protection  "  is 
the  only  one  that  is  practicable,  and  I  much  wish  your 
sandhills,  the  neighbourhood  of  Hickling,  and  I  daresay 
two  or  three  other  places  in  Norfolk,  could  be  placed 
under  the  Act.  But  great  judgment  will  be  required  to 
define  the  limits  of  each  "  protected  area  "  as  well  as  the 
close-time,  whether  it  is  to  begin  on  the  15th  April,  1st 
or  15th  May,  1st  of  June,  and  so  on.  These  are  points 
on  which  local  knowledge  is  everything,  and  most  likely 


E.S.P.B.  153 

the  close-time  should  vary  in  accordance  with  the 
locality.  I  only  pretend  to  indicate  the  general  line  to 
be  taken,  and  further  than  that  I  have  only  to  say  try  to 
get  Walsingham  over.  He  has  a  way  of  conciliating 
people  which  would  be  very  useful  if  he  were  on  your 
side,  and  I  know  he  is  that  from  the  part  he  took  in  the 
House  of  Lords  in  1893. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  that  fool  of  a  Lord  I 

think  Maxwell  might  have  been  persuaded  to  accept  the 
amendments  of  his  Bill,  and  all  the  Terns  would  have 
been  safe  last  year  instead  of  being  sacrificed.* 

The  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Birds,  which  was 
founded  in  1889,  received  the  first  guinea  towards  its 
funds  from  Newton,  and  always  found  in  him  a  cordial 
helper  and  adviser.  Though  he  was  several  times  invited 
to  do  so,  he  would  neve?  consent  to  become  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  Society,  possibly  because  he  mistrusted 
what  he  considered  to  be  their  somewhat  amateurish 
methods.  He  was  constantly  deploring  the  mistaken 
enthusiasm  of  people  whose  letters  in  the  Times  and 
elsewhere  seemed  to  him  to  do  more  harm  than  good. 

"  The  worst  is  that  people  will  gush  and  be  sentimental, 
and  as  I  found  out  before,  when  I  had  to  do  with  the 
Bird  Protection  Bills  in  Parliament,  the  sentimentalists 
gave  far  more  trouble  than  any  one  else." 

Though  he  condemned  the  form  of  the  Act  of  1894, 
and  was  always  hoping  that  some  day  a  more  reasonable 
scheme  might  be  adopted,  he  was  bound  to  admit  a  few 
years  later  that  much  good  had  been  effected  even  by 
that  imperfect  measure. 

How  to  get  a  commonsense  Act  of  Parliament  passed 
I  don't  know.  We  had  one  once  which  was  pretty  good, 
but  as  you  know  the  poulterers  got  Harcourt  to  repeal 
the  one  useful  clause  in  it,  when  it  had  existed  only  for 

*  Letter  to  Col.  H.  W.  Feilden,  January  9,  1895. 


154  PROTECTION  OF  BIRDS 

about  a  twelvemonth,  and  since  that  time  the  flood  of 
silly  sentimentalists  has  swept  away  everything  practic- 
able. They  have  been  aided  by  meddlesome  people  like 

and ,  who  have  never  been  able  to  understand 

the  points  at  issue.  In  the  present  state  of  things  I 
doubt  whether  we  should  be  a  bit  better  off  for  a  new 
Act ;  there  is  no  one  to  look  to  it  in  either  House  of 
Parliament.  I  think  there  is  no  chance  of  Bryce's  Bill 
being  carried  for  many  a  year.  There  is  no  doubt  as  to 
the  mischief  it  would  do  in  regard  to  birds  ;  and  the 
Golden  Eagle  would  follow  the  Sea-Eagle  into  the 
Ewigkeit. 

I  quite  agree  with  you  that  probably  no  harm  has 
been  done,  or  is  likely  to  be  done,  by  taking  Crossbills' 
and  Siskins'  nests  ;  both  species  are  no  doubt  increasing 
in  number  with  the  spread  of  planting  in  Scotland ;  (by 
the  way,  is  the  Crested  Titmouse  extending  into  the  new 
plantations  ?  It  ought  to  do  so  soon ;)  but  still  it  is 
disgusting  that  all  these  nests  should  be  taken  just  to 
put  a  few  shillings  or  pounds  into  a  man's  pocket. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  must  recognise  the  fact  that 
the  Acts  have  done  a  great  deal  of  good.  The  Great- 
crested  Grebe  was  all  but  done  for  in  Norfolk,  and  is  now 
flourishing  there  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
I  hear  of  Tufted  Duck  ("  in  swarms  ")  everywhere,  and 
this  year  there  has  been  a  pair  of  Redshanks  breeding 
on  the  wet  meadows  between  this  place  and  Grantchester, 
such  a  thing  having  been  unknown  for  much  more  than 
50  years.* 

The  inadequacy  (as  it  seemed  to  him)  of  the  existing 
Acts  did  not  deter  Newton  from  his  public-spirited  work, 
and  for  many  years  he  devoted  much  time,  as  a  mass  of 
correspondence  testifies,  to  attempts  at  securing  proper 
protection  for  certain  local  species.  In  1 893  he  persuaded 
the  Zoological  Society  to  award  silver  medals  to  John 
Peter  Grant,  of  Rothiemurchus,  and  Lochiel  for  their 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  June  25,  1900. 


GREAT  SKUAS  155 

successful  protection  of  the  Ospreys  in  Scotland.  He 
also  took  an  active  interest  in  the  (at  one  time)  precarious 
fate  of  the  Great  Skuas  in  Shetland  : — 

I  learn  with  much  gratification  the  result  of  your 
interviews  with  Mrs.  Traill,  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Gilmour 
is  determined  to  afford  effectual  protection  to  the 
Bonxies  on  Foula.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  would  easily  and 
readily  find  fit  watchers  for  next  season.  But  I  am 
always  most  anxious  that  the  protection  of  birds  should 
not  be  overdone,  as  I  see  great  danger  of  its  being.  Given 
absolute  protection  to  the  breeding  birds  during  a  proper 
"  close-time,"  I  am  convinced  that  a  certain  proportion 
of  eggs  may  be  safely  taken  without  detriment  to  the 
species.  This  is  the  result  of  very  general  experience 
during  a  great  many  years,  and  herein  I  find  the  present 
law  so  very  objectionable  ;  but  still  so  long  as  it  is  law 
it  must  be  obeyed. 

If  it  were  possible  to  allow  people  to  take  Bonxies' 
eggs  up  to  a  certain  day  (what  the  day  should  be  I  don't 
pretend  to  know)  but  not  to  take  a  single  egg  after  that 
day,  the  people  would  have  no  grievance  and  I  am  sure 
that  the  birds  would  not  be  less  numerous.  This,  how- 
ever, is  a  consideration  rather  for  legislators  than  for 
others,  though  such  permission  would  enable  the  law,  as 
it  is,  to  be  more  strictly  enforced,  without  any  appearance 
of  hardship.  I  know  it  was  intended  by  those  who  had 
to  do  with  the  last  Act  of  Parliament,  but  by  their 
blundering  ignorance,  and  the  reading  of  the  Act  adopted 
by  the  English  Home  Office,  which  I  believe  was  adopted 
by  the  Secretary  for  Scotland,  the  liberal  interpretation 
was  rejected,  and  the  consequence  has  been  very  dis- 
astrous in  many  cases.* 

The  anomalies  of  the  law  were  intensely  irritating  to 
him,  and  perhaps  caused  him  to  say  unduly  hard  things 
of  the  legislators. 

*  A.N  to  W.  Eagle  Clarke,  July  16,  1900. 


156  PROTECTION  OF  BIRDS 

"  The  watcher  we  keep  on  Breydon  Water  is  defied  by 
the  gunners  there  who  want  to  shoot  Spoonbills  now 
frequenting  it,  and  then  a  man  is  fined  at  Yarmouth  for 
having  two  blackbirds  in  his  possession  !  "  * 

An  effort  was  made  to  remove  the  protection  from 
the  colony  of  Terns  at  Aldeburgh  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  responsible  for  the  falling-off  of  the  inshore 
fisheries. 

September  10,  1906. 

MY  DEAR  TUCK, 

I  am  glad  to  see  by  a  newspaper  paragraph  that 
you  are  taking  up  the  question  of  the  Terns  at  Aldeburgh 
(or  Orford)  Beach,  for  it  is  high  time  that  somebody  who 
knows  something  about  birds  and  their  ways  should  do 
so.  I  am  too  old  to  fight,  and,  moreover,  I  have  not  the 
necessary  local  knowledge.  I  have  not  been  there  since 
June,  1885.  I  am  quite  sure  that  there  were  not  40  pairs 
of  Terns  on  the  whole  beach,  and  it  is  quite  absurd  for 
any  one  to  assert  (as  I  read)  that  there  are  now  40,000 
birds. 

That  the  inshore  fisheries  have  been  "  fished  out  "  has 
long  been  notorious.  I  made  a  point  of  it  in  an  Address 
I  gave  to  the  British  Association  at  the  Glasgow  meeting 
just  30  years  ago,  and  in  consequence  my  good  friend 
Holdsworth  (who  had  been  Secretary  to  Huxley's  Herring 
Fishery  Commission)  fell  foul  of  me  and  we  had  a  lively 
time  in  Nature.  It  is  the  greatest  nonsense  that  can 
be  to  put  down  the  falling-off  to  birds  of  any  kind.  In 
the  days  when  sea-birds  of  all  sorts  were  ever  so  much 
more  numerous  round  our  coasts  than  they  have  been 
for  the  last  50  years,  there  were  plenty  of  fish. 

What  I  want  to  know,  and  should  be  grateful  to  you 
if  you  could  tell  me,  is  the  real  cause  of  the  present  dis- 
satisfaction. Are  the  fishermen  honestly  but  ignorantly 
of  opinion  that  the  Terns  have  so  multiplied  as  to  become 
injurious,  or  have  they  been  "  put  up  to  "  this  ?  If  so, 
by  whom  ?  When  I  was  last  there  the  Aldeburgh  men, 

*  A.N.  to  J.  A,  Harvie- Brown,  June  22,  1900. 


SHOOTING  RARE  BIRDS  157 

or,  say,  a  dozen  of  them,  were  keen  eggers — for  profit  as 
well  as  sport.  May  not  these  men,  dissatisfied  with  the 
order  of  the  County  Council  prohibiting  egging,  be  at  the 
bottom  of  it  ?  What  the  precise  order  was  I  know  not : 
if  it  was  total  prohibition  my  sympathies  could  be  with 
the  men ;  but  if  it  simply  laid  down  a  close-time  after 
which  no  eggs  were  to  be  taken,  it  would  be  reasonable. 
Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

He  objected  strongly  to  the  too  common  practice  of 
shooting  rare  birds,  but  he  admitted  that  there  were 
cases,  as,  for  instance,  when  it  was  impossible  otherwise 
to  identify  them,  in  which  shooting  might  be  justifiable. 

I  am  very  glad  to  learn  you  are  endeavouring  to 
obtain  the  strange  bird  you  saw.  I  am  generally  very 
much  averse  to  the  common  practice  of  destroying 
indiscriminately  all  foreign  stragglers  ;  but  this  is  just 
one  of  the  exceptional  cases  in  which  the  death  of  a 
victim  will  in  all  probability  be  a  real  advantage  to 
Ornithology,  and  I  trust  your  efforts  will  be  successful.* 

It  is  not  quite  easy  to  understand  his  attitude 
towards  shooting  birds  on  the  autumn  migration. 

I  think  we  cannot  complain  of  people  shooting  birds 
on  the  autumn  migration,  at  that  season  stragglers  may 
as  well  fall  to  the  gun  as  be  lost  at  sea,  which  would 
probably  be  their  fate  since  they  have  got  "  out  of  their 
know,"  to  use  a  good  East  Anglian  expression.  Feilden 
writes  to  me  of  very  young  partridges,  "  squeakers  "  we 
used  to  call  them,  being  spoken  of  as  "  doddermites." 
I  never  heard  of  the  word  before,  and  do  not  know 
whether  it  is  given  by  Forby.  f 

Probably  he  had  in  his  mind  only  those  stragglers 
that  stray  far  from  their  course,  for  at  other  times  he 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  April  4,  1867. 
t  A.N.  to  T.  Southwell,  September  16, 1902. 


158  PROTECTION  OF  BIRDS 

condemned  very  strongly  the  shooting  of  birds  of  prey 
in  the  autumn.  Many  of  the  Kites  and  Ospreys  that  fall 
victims  to  the  August  gunner  are  (or  were)  birds  that 
had  been  reared  in  Britain,  and  if  unmolested  would 
probably  return  to  breed  in  the  following  year. 

In  spite  of  his  enthusiasm  for  bird-protection  Newton, 
always  had  a  very  strong  sympathy  with  the  true  egg- 
collector,  which  must  have  become  evident  from  the 
preceding  pages.  From  his  earliest  years  he  had  been 
a  keen  collector  of  eggs,  and  later  he  tells  how  in  one 
day  in  April,  1861,  he  took  two  nests  of  the  Golden 
Eagle  in  Scotland,  "  crawling  up  hill  with  two  sticks." 
He  was  always  essentially  an  out-of-doors  man,  and, 
in  spite  of  his  lameness  he  managed  to  cover  the  country 
in  a  wonderful  way.  A  correspondent  writes  : — 

On  October  14,  1874,  Mr.  John  Henry  Gurney,  his 
son  ( J.  H.  G.),  Professor  Newton,  and  I  saw  a  Swift  flying 
round  Cromer  Church  tower :  six  Ring  Dotterel  at 
Northrepps.  At  this  time,  as  we  walked  across  country, 
the  Professor  declined  any  help  in  crossing  a  hedge,  but 
instantly  threw  his  crutches  (sticks)  over  it  and  pitched 
himself  through  it  so  as  to  alight  on  his  shoulder  (or 
head,  arms,  and  shoulder).  He  seemed  expert  in  going 
through  without  scratch  or  hurt,  in  spite  of  his  lameness. 

To  the  end  of  his  life  he  sympathised  with  the  egg- 
collector  who  was  also  a  naturalist,  but  he  realised  fully 
the  limitations  of  egg-collecting  pure  and  simple. 

I  am  afraid  I  may  fall  somewhat  in  your  estimation 
when  I  tell  you  that  I  don't  suppose  I  shall  ever  again 
be  able  to  take  the  interest  in  eggs  that  I  did  before  I 
finished  my  Catalogue.  I  hope  never  to  lose  it,  but  one 
can't  help  finding  that  there  are  many  other  branches 
of  Ornithology  which  are  really  more  important,  though 
I  will  never  yield  to  any  one  in  maintaining  that  there 
is  nothing  like  bird's-nesting  for  bringing  you  into  contact 


OOLOGY  159 

with  the  bird  and  its  life  ;  so  that  it  is  in  one  sense  one 
of  the  highest  pursuits  of  Natural  Science.  But  I  was 
never  one  of  those — or,  if  ever,  that  must  have  been  well 
over  fifty  years  ago — who  thought  that  "  oology  "  was 
going  to  have  an  important  effect  on  phylogeny  (i.e. 
classification)  and  so  forth.* 

*  A.N.  to  F.  C.  R.  Jourdain,  March  18, 1907. 


CHAPTER  X 

MIGRATION   AND    DISTRIBUTION 

IN  the  realm  of  Ornithology,  and,  indeed,  in  all  the 
study  of  Nature,  there  are  few  questions  that  appeal  so 
strongly  to  the  imagination,  and  few  questions  of  which 
man  is  still  so  ignorant,  as  that  of  the  Migration  of  Birds. 
From  his  boyhood  Newton  was  keenly  interested  in 
migration,  and  with  his  brother  Edward  he  kept  for 
many  years  a  record  of  the  movements  of  the  birds  at 
Elveden. 

The  ordinary  observer,  until  lately  at  least,  never 
thought  of  birds  being  resident  as  a  species  while  they 
were  migratory  as  individuals.  Thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  scarcely  anybody  knew  of  the  migration  in  this 
country  of  the  Song-Thrush,  the  Redbreast,  and  others. 
It  needs  a  considerable  familiarity,  not  only  with  the 
district,  but  with  the  individual  birds  frequenting  it, 
to  find  that  out,  and  in  some  cases  it  is  very  difficult  to 
do  so.  I  have  never  been  able  to  observe  for  myself 
any  indication  of  the  Hedge-Sparrow  being  migratory, 
yet  I  feel  sure  that  it  is.  Fifty  years  ago  I  observed  the 
local  movements  of  the  Redbreast,  but  it  was  not  until 
I  had  passed  some  two  or  three  seasons  (July  and  August) 
in  Dorset,  that  I  noticed  its  actual  migration,  and  that 
in  considerable  numbers. 

It  seems  to  me  probable,  though  I  cannot  prove  it, 
that  the  young  broods  of  nearly  all  birds  leave  the  place 
of  their  birth  as  soon  as  they  are  fit  to  travel.  People 
commonly  say  they  are  driven  away  by  their  parents, 
and  in  some  cases  that  certainly  seems  to  be  so  ;  but  I 
very  much  doubt  whether  it  is  in  the  majority  of  species, 

160 


MIGRATION  OF  BIRDS  161 

and  I  suspect  the  young  go  off  of  their  own  accord.  It 
would  take  a  lifetime  to  make  this  out,  and  few  men 
have  the  leisure  or  opportunity  for  such  continuous 
observation  as  would  be  required.  I  have  been  in  my 
younger  days  especially  favoured  in  that  way ;  for 
beginning  as  a  boy,  I  had  nearly  twenty  years  of  good 
opportunities  ;  but,  of  course,  of  those  twenty  years  a 
great  part  was  spent  in  learning  one's  business,  I  can't 
say  in  apprenticeship,  for  that  would  imply  the  teaching 
or  supervision  of  a  master,  and  master,  of  course,  I  had 
none.  Moreover,  during  that  period  there  were  various 
interruptions,  such  as  schools,  college,  and  going  abroad 
from  time  to  time  ;  though  I  had  my  brother  to  help  me, 
and  he  was  a  far  better  observer  than  I.  Our  joint 
experience,  however,  points  to  what  I  have  stated,  and 
the  "  Register  "  we  kept  for  nearly  ten  years  warrants 
my  having  confidence  in  it ;  the  more  so  that  since  that 
time  the  more  I  read  about  migration  by  good  observers 
the  more  I  am  confirmed  in  the  opinion.* 

The  letters  of  ill-informed  persons  to  the  newspapers 
about  migration,  not  less  than  about  bird  protection, 
roused  Newton's  wrath.  The  "  silly  season  "  of  1874 
was  marked  by  a  discussion  of  this  sort,  which  impelled 
him  to  write  to  Nature  a  masterly  exposition  of  the  facts 
of  migration  as  far  as  they  were  then  understood.  The 
discussion  began  with  a  theory  of  migration  set  forth  by 
a  Scandinavian  poet,  which  treated  that  movement  as 
an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  birds  to  obtain  more  light. 
It  is  not  certain  whether  the  theory  was  advanced  in 
earnest  or  merely  as  a  poetic  fancy,  but  it  is  obvious 
that  it  contains  its  own  refutation.  The  first  letter, 
which  professed  to  give  the  "  latest  accepted  theory  " 
on  the  subject  and  which  prompted  Newton  to  reply, 
is  so  remarkable  that  extracts  may  be  quoted  from  it 
here. 

*  Letter  to  W.  Eagle-Clarke,  February  2,  1901. 

M 


162        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

I  believe  it  was  only  some  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago 
that  anything  like  a  practical  solution  of  the  difficulty  was 
arrived  at.  The  birds  congregating  about  the  south 
coast  are  seized  with  a  sudden  impulse  or  mania  to  fly 
upwards.  This  is  caused  by  some  atmospheric  change 
coinciding  with  a  warm  south  wind  moving  in  a  high 
stratum,  into  which  the  birds  soar  with  an  involuntary 
motion  of  their  wings.  This  motion  (involuntary  like 
that  of  the  heart)  is  continued  for  many  hours,  and  the 
birds  fly  blindly  along  until  the  paroxysm  passes  off,  when 
they  at  once  begin  to  descend,  making  many  a  fatal  drop 
into  the  sea. 

The  same  phenomenon  occurs  in  Africa  and  southern 
countries,  where  the  migratory  birds  congregate  for  a 
northern  flight  about  April.  Experiments  were  tried  here 
and  in  Africa  which  tended  to  corroborate  the  above 
facts.  Migratory  birds  were  kept  in  cages  along  the 
coast,  and  it  was  found  that  each  was  seized  with  a  pro- 
longed paroxysm  coinciding  with  the  time  that  the  wild 
birds  disappeared.  Cages  were  constructed  with  silk  at 
top  and  bottom  to  prevent  the  birds  from  killing  them- 
selves ;  and  it  was  noticed  that  after  the  paroxysm  had 
passed  away,  the  birds  began  to  look  about  them,  to 
plume  themselves,  and  eat  and  drink,  apparently  with  a 
notion  that  they  had  arrived  at  their  new  home.* 

Of  this  Newton  writes  : — 

On  reading  these  wonderful  paragraphs,  some  ques- 
tions naturally  arise.  How  does  the  writer  account  for 
his  "  birds  congregating  about  the  south  coast  "  ?  What 
brings  them  there,  that  they  may  be  "  seized  with  a 
sudden  impulse  or  mania  to  fly  upwards  "  ?  Who  has 
ever  observed  the  "  atmospheric  change  "  and  coincident 
"  warm  south  wind  moving  in  a  high  stratum  "  ?  Do 
these  remarkable  meteorological  phenomena  occur  but 
once  in  the  whole  season  of  migration,  or  is  there  a  suc- 
cession of  them  to  suit  the  convenience  of  each  migratory 
species  ?  Who,  moreover,  has  seen  the  birds  soar  into 

*  Times,  September  18,  1874. 


CAUSE  OF  MIGRATION  163 

this  peculiar  current  of  air  ?  and  who  of  such  fortunate 
persons  knows  that  the  motion  of  their  wings  under  such 
conditions  is  "  involuntary  like  that  of  the  heart "  ? 
Finally,  what  is  the  cause  of  the  "  paroxysm  "  ?  for,  with- 
out knowing  that,  to  attempt  to  explain  the  observed 
facts  of  migration  is  an  attempt  to  explain  obseurum  per 
obscurius. 

When  a  satisfactory  answer  is  given  to  these  questions, 
it  will  be  time  to  inquire  whether  this  "  latest  accepted 
theory  "  of  migration  sets  the  matter  in  any  clearer  light, 
or  whether  it  is  not  as  arrant  nonsense  as  was  ever  foisted 
upon  an  innocent  public,  even  at  the  height  of  the  "  silly 
season."  The  last  paragraph  of  the  writer's  letter,  I  may 
remark,  has  nothing  in  it  of  consequence.  Granting  that 
the  migratory  impulse  is  instinctive,  it  is,  like  other  in- 
stinctive practices,  followed  as  far  as  circumstances  will 
allow.* 

Then  follows  an  admirable  statement  of  the  original 
causes  of  migration,  and  of  the  modes  of  migration, 
ending  with  the  question  : 

"  How  is  it  that  birds  find  their  way  back  to  their 
old  home  ?  "  This  seems  to  me  the  most  inexplicable 
part  of  the  whole  matter.  I  cannot  even  offer  an 
approach  to  its  solution.  .  .  .  Here  I  have  no  theory 
to  advance,  no  prejudice  to  sustain.  I  should  be  thank- 
ful indeed  for  any  hypothesis  that  would  be  in  accord- 
ance with  observed  facts.  .  .  .  The  solution  is  probably 
simple  in  the  extreme — possibly  before  our  eyes  at  this 
moment  if  we  could  but  see  it — but  whosoever  discovers 
it  will  assuredly  deserve  to  have  his  name  remembered 
among  those  of  the  greatest  discoverers  of  this  or  any 
age. 

With  the  caution — perhaps  even  excessive — that 
was  so  characteristic  of  him,  Newton  would  never  permit 
himself  to  advance  any  general  theory  of  migration,  nor 
was  he  even  satisfied  with  any  of  the  theories  suggested 

*  Nature,  September  24,  1874. 


164         MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

by  others.  It  is,  indeed,  hardly  too  much  to  say  he 
despaired  of  an  answer  ever  being  brought  forward  to 
the  great  question — in  his  own  time,  at  all  events. 

With  much  that  you  say  I  wholly  agree,  though  I 
can't  attach  much  value  to  what  has  hitherto  been 
written  about  "  Land  routes  "  of  migration  and  so  on. 
There  may  be  such  things,  indeed,  I  will  go  so  far  as  to 
say  that  such  things  probably  exist,  but  as  yet  we  really 
know  next  to  nothing  about  them.  The  worst  of  it  is, 
I  don't  see  my  way  at  present  to  knowing  much  more, 
for  want  of  well-placed  and  trustworthy  observers. 
The  ordinary  man  who  records  his  first  Swallow  and  so 
on,  however  faithful  he  may  be,  goes  very  little  way  to 
help,  and  how  to  improve  him  I  don't  know. 

Even  if  I  had  kept  a  record  of  my  own  observations 
on  birds  travelling  by  night,  since  I  took  up  my  permanent 
abode  at  Cambridge,  it  would  tell  me  very  little  that 
would  be  of  use  ;  and  I  take  it  that  in  all  that  time  few 
people  have  had  opportunities  so  good  as  mine  ;  for  my 
habit  of  working  late  at  night  and,  except  in  really  cold 
weather,  with  a  window  open,  is  not  one  that  many 
indulge.  I  can  only,  as  a  general  result,  say  that  when 
the  sky  is  clear  one  hears  nothing  ;  but  given  a  cloudy 
sky,  from  the  end  of  July  to  the  middle  of  October,  the 
chances  are  one  hears  birds  fly  over.  What  birds  they 
are  it  is  nearly  always  impossible  to  say,  because  the 
generality  seem  to  use  a  different  language  when  travel- 
ling. 

After  long  experience  I  have  come  to  the  supposition 
that  certain  notes  are  uttered  by  Oyster-catchers  ;  but 
I  never  heard  an  Oyster-catcher  utter  such  a  note  by 
daytime  or  when  he  is  at  home  !  It  is  very  rarely  that 
one  catches  an  unmistakable  note,  a  Cuckow's,  a  Red- 
shank's, or  a  Golden  Plover's,  yet  hundreds  of  them  must 
be  passing  over. 

There  is  plenty  more  to  be  done  in  the  migration  way, 
if  we  only  knew  how  to  do  it.* 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  September  9,  1900. 


MIGRATION  REPORT  165 

I  am  glad  of  the  good  progress  you  have  been  making 
in  the  Migration  Report.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  say 
what  your  ingenuity  may  not  have  evolved  out  of  all 
the  records  in  the  Field  and  elsewhere  that  you  have 
been  working  at ;  but  I  own  I  shall  be  surprised  if  you 
are  able  to  lay  down  any  "  land  routes,"  my  ideas  being 
that  local  influence  is  beyond  human  intelligence  and 
consequently  calculation.  However,  we  shall  see,  and 
I  will  admit  that  there  are  a  few  recorded  facts  that  seem 
to  show  it  is  subject  to  rule :  e.g.  I  have  known  year 
after  year  a  Woodcock  to  be  flushed  under  a  particular 
tree,  fly  out  to  the  open  in  a  particular  place,  and  be  then 
shot  by  a  gun  placed  for  the  purpose  !  Then  there  is 
that  Rough-legged  Buzzard  which  used  to  fly  year  after 
year  to  a  particular  dead  tree  at  Northrepps  and  be 
always  shot  dead !  These  things  incline  one  to  believe  that 
there  may  be  land  routes ;  but  who  is  to  lay  them  down  ?  * 

Barrington's  evidence  as  to  long-winged  or  short- 
winged  examples  of  the  same  species  of  bird  strongly 
confirms  what  I  put  forth  in  "  D.B."  (p.  557),  and  that 
is  really  only  the  legitimate  deduction  of  what  Tristram 
had  already  observed  in  the  passage  (Ibis,  1865,  p.  77), 
to  which  I  there  refer.  There  is  nothing  to  show  that 
the  age  of  the  individual  has  anything  to  do  with  the 
matter,  and  I  don't  think  it  has.  It  is  simply  that  the 
longest-winged  birds  go  furthest  in  each  direction,  and 
apparently  start  soonest.  It  seems  to  me  quite  natural 
that  they  should  do  so.  The  tendency  of  long-winged 
individuals  is  to  breed  others  as  long-winged,  or  even 
longer,  and  so  the  thing  goes  on,  and  has  been  going  on 
for  ages.  This  may  point  to  the  polar  origin  of  life,  and 
certainly  does  not  contradict  such  a  supposition ;  but 
it  can't  be  said  to  go  far  to  support  it.  All  I  think  one 
can  say  is  that  if  the  hypothesis  that  Life  originated  at 
the  Pole  be  true,  the  fact  would  very  likely  account  for 
the  facts  as  we  find  them.  Further  than  that  it  would 
hardly  be  safe  to  go  at  present,  f 

*  Letter  to  W.  Eagle-Clarke,  April  7,  1900. 
'     f  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  November  2,  1900. 


166        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

He  often  talked  and  wrote  to  his  friends  of  the  birds 
he  heard  passing  over  Cambridge  on  dark  nights. 
"  Owing  to  my  practice  of  writing  late  at  night  these 
thirty  years  or  more,  with  a  sliding  pane  in  my  window 
let  down,  I  have  observed  that  they  come  from  the  N.E. 
in  a  straight  line — flock  after  flock." 

If  he  was  unwilling  to  formulate  a  theory  of  migra- 
tion, he  was  always  eager  to  point  out  the  fallacy  in  any 
of  the  new  ideas  or  to  show  the  absurdity  of  ancient 
superstitions.  Of  these  latter,  the  hardest  to  die  was 
the  theory  that  birds  hibernated  in  a  torpid  state,  and 
he  declared  that  on  this  point  only  in  connection  with 
this  subject  could  we  boast  ourselves  to  be  clearly  wiser 
than  our  ancestors.  But  year  after  year,  instances  of 
this  curious  belief  presented  themselves  to  him  either  in 
public  print  or  in  private  communications. 

I  forget  all  about  Kalm's  story  ;  but  it  is  really  not 
so  uncommon  for  people  to  be  able  to  persuade  them- 
selves of  the  truth  of  anything  they  want  to  believe,  as 
Mr.  Gladstone  was  said  to  do.  I  was  once  almost 
stumped  by  a  story  about  torpid  Swallows  till  provi- 
dentially a  witness  presented  himself  and  explained  the 
whole  thing  by  stating  that  they  were  Bats  ! 

I  had  a  bit  of  fun  once  in  Nature  with  the  late  Duke 
of  Argyll,  who  pretended  that  his  brother-in-law  (I  think 
it  was)  had  seen  Swallows  or  Martins  dug  out  of  the  bank 
of  the  Tigris  or  Euphrates.  I  doubt  whether  the  Duke 
believed  it,  but  he  felt  bound  in  honour  to  stand  up  for 
his  informant. 

Elliott  Coues  was  much  inclined  to  believe  in  torpidity, 
perhaps  did  believe  in  it,  but  was  ashamed  to  declare  his 
belief,  for  he  had  enough  physiological  knowledge  to 
know  that  such  a  thing  is  all  but  impossible  in  a  bird. 
No  one  has  ever  traced  or  ever  will  trace  the  bounds  of 
human  credulity  ;  for  the  last  ten  days  or  more  people 
have  been  writing  letters  to  the  Times,  nearly  all 


SUPERSTITIONS  167 

expressing  their  belief  in  "  dowsing,"  and  that  is  evidently 
the  belief  of  the  editor  or  proprietor,  or  both. 

I  must  look  up  my  Olaus  Magnus  ;  I  think  he  gives 
a  woodcut  with  an  amusing  scene  of  Swallows  being 
taken  out  of  a  fishing  net,  and  it  might  be  worth  while 
for  you  to  have  this  copied  and  inserted  in  your  book.* 

Of  the  same  kind  is  the  equally  ancient  belief  that 
little  birds  get  themselves  conveyed  from  one  country 
to  another  by  their  bigger  brethren.  Storks  and  Cranes 
on  their  migration  are  manifest  to  beholders,  but  the 
transit  of  lesser  birds  of  feebler  flight  is  seldom  evident, 
and  when,  as  often  happens,  large  and  small  birds  dis- 
appear or  arrive  simultaneously,  what  is  more  natural 
than  that  the  ignorant  should  suppose  that  the  latter 
should  avail  themselves  of  the  former  as  a  vehicle  ? 
Thus  in  1740  the  Tartars  of  Krasnojarsk  assured 
J.  G.  Gmelin  (Reise  durch  Siberien)  that  when  autumn 
came  each  Crane  took  a  Corncrake  on  its  back  and 
transplanted  it  to  a  warm  land,  while  the  well-known 
belief  of  the  Egyptian  peasant  that  Cranes  and 
Storks  bring  a  living  load  was  not  long  since  gravely 
promulgated  in  this  country  as  a  truth,  f 

One  would  like  to  know  what  measure  of  scorn  he 
would  have  poured  on  the  theory  recently,  and  (it  is 
said)  seriously  suggested,  that  the  Cuckow  lays  her  eggs 
in  the  nests  of  other  birds  in  return  for  her  services  as 
guide  from  southern  lands  ! 

In  the  much  discussed  question  of  migration  routes 
he  took  the  deepest  interest,  and  he  had  the  highest 
opinion  of  the  work  of  Professor  Palmen ;  but  later  it 
appeared  that  his  belief  in  routes  was  shaken,  and  he 
returned  to  the  more  tenable  creed  that  every  species 
on  migration  goes  its  own  way,  and  what  is  called  a 
migration  route  is  only  the  coincidence  of  the  way  taken 
by  more  or  few  of  them. 

*  Letter  to  W.  Eagle  Clarke,  January  11, 1905, 
t  "  Dictionary  of  Birds,"  p.  550. 


168        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

I  think  we  don't  know  enough  about  the  routes  of 
birds,  if  routes  there  be,  to  say  which  are  the  best  stations 
for  observing  them,  and  these  can  only  be  found  out  by 
continuous  series  of  observations. 

We  want  a  score  or  so  of  Gatkes  begotten  and  perched 
on  a  score  or  so  of  lighted-up  islands  and  lightships  all 
round ;  then  one  might  do  something  more  than  guess 
warily  ;  but  even  thus  the  "  personal  equation  "  has  to 
be  taken  into  consideration.  I  think  there  is  as  little 
chance  of  there  being  another  Gatke  born  as  there  is  of 
another  Gilbert  White,  Shakespeare,  or  Robert  Burns  ! 

I  hope  that  Clarke's  Redpoll  studies  will  not  send  him 
into  a  Lunatic  Asylum ;  mine  nearly  did  so  with  me, 
but  fortunately  I  had  Dresser  to  share  the  trouble,  and 
we  continued  to  keep  ourselves  sane — at  least  apparently 
so.  I  think  Redpolls  are  like  the  Apocalypse,  their 
study  finds  a  man  mad  (like  poor  Coues  for  instance),  or 

makes  him  so.  For  this  reason  I  wish  X would 

take  them  up,  and  then  peradventure  he  might  be  finally 
interned  in  Colney  Hatch  and  cease  to  do  evil ;  that  he 
should  learn  to  do  well  I  think  impossible.  But  I  am 
growing  tolerant  in  my  old  age,  and  look  upon  sub- 
speciefiers  as  Mohammedans  look  upon  Franks  ;  un- 
comfortable creations  that  Allah  for  some  purpose  of 
his  own  permits  to  exist,  an  old  but  apt  simile.* 

He  had  the  greatest  admiration  for  Herr  Gatke,  of 
whom  he  wrote  that,  "  through  his  watchfulness  Heligo- 
land has  attained  celebrity  as  a  post  of  observation  quite 
beyond  any  other  in  the  world,  so  that  ornithologists 
may  at  times  wonder  whether  the  man  made  the  station 
or  the  station  the  man — so  fitted  have  they  been  for  one 
another."  The  two  men  very  frequently  corresponded, 
but  they  only  met  once,  when  Newton  was  taken  to 
Heligoland  on  board  a  friend's  yacht.  At  the  end  of 
his  stay,  when  he  was  stepping  into  the  dinghy  to  take 
him  on  board  again,  Newton  had  the  misfortune  to  slip 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  January  9,  1906. 


GATKE  OF  HELIGOLAND  169 

and  ruptured  an  important  tendon  in  his  sound  leg. 
Thenceforward  he  went  always  with  two  instead  of,  as 
formerly,  with  one  stick,  or  (in  the  words  of  a  friend  of 
his)  from  a  three-legged  he  became  a  four-legged  man. 

With  one  of  Herr  Gatke's  points  Newton  found 
himself  unable  to  agree,  and  that  was  with  regard  to 
the  speed  at  which  migrating  birds  travel.  Gatke 
maintained  that  Grey  Crows  flew  from  Heligoland  to 
Lincolnshire  in  three  hours,  at  a  rate  of  120  miles  an 
hour,  a  speed  which  it  would  appear  impossible  for  a 
bird  of  the  crow  kind  to  attain.  Still  more  wonderful 
was  Gatke's  contention  that  the  Bluethroat  flies  from 
the  Nile  Delta  to  Heligoland  in  nine  hours,  and  his 
observations  of  Curlews  and  Plovers,  which  were  timed 
to  cross  the  island  of  Heligoland,  a  distance  of  rather 
more  than  four  miles,  in  one  minute.  Against  these 
Newton  set  the  commonly  observed  instances  of  Swallows 
and  Partridges,  which  are  easily  outstripped  by  a  railway 
train,  and  the  speed  of  Carrier  Pigeons,  which  was  de- 
clared by  Mr.  Tegetmeier  to  be  about  thirty-six  miles 
an  hour. 

Though  it  seemed  that  he  almost  despaired  of  an 
answer  ever  being  given  to  the  fundamental  questions  of 
migration,  he  spared  neither  time  nor  trouble  in  trying 
to  investigate  the  facts,  so  far  as  they  might  be  observed, 
of  that  wonderful  movement.  It  was  mainly  owing  to 
his  initiation  that  the  British  Association  appointed  in 
1880  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  migration  of  birds. 
For  twenty-three  years  (1880-1903)  Newton  presided 
over  this  committee,  which  collected  a  great  mass  of 
valuable  information,  chiefly  through  the  untiring  energy 
of  Mr.  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown  and  the  late  Mr.  John  Cor- 
deaux.  One  of  the  schemes  originated  by  the  committee, 
in  which  he  took  the  most  active  interest,  was  that  of 
observing  migration  from  lighthouses  and  light-vessels, 


170        MIGRATION  AND   DISTRIBUTION 

and  he  gave  unfailing  assistance  and  advice  to  Mr.  Eagle 
Clarke,  who  isolated  himself  in  those  remote  places  during 
his  vacations  for  several  years,  with  most  valuable  results. 
One  of  the  first  journeys  Mr.  Eagle  Clarke  took  on 
this  account  was  to  the  lighthouse  at  Ushant  in  1898  ; 
Newton  gave  him  considerable  assistance  in  getting  the 
necessary  permission,  but  the  trip  came  to  an  untimely 
end : — 

Clarke,  who  went  with  a  Government  grant  and  the 
sanction  of  the  French  authorities  to  Ushant  to  make 
observations  on  bird  migration,  found  himself  the  object 
of  suspicion  and  so  dogged  by  a  gendarme,  sent  specially 
from  Paris  to  look  after  him,  that  he  gave  it  up,  on  the 
advice  of  H.M.  Consul  at  Brest — in  order  "to  avoid 
serious  consequences  " — as  a  bad  job  and  came  away  re 
infecta.  The  military  prison  of  Cherche  Midi  in  Paris 
seems  to  be  the  proper  place  for  a  spy  who  passed  off  as 
an  observer  of  autumnal  migration.  I  wonder  if  the 
French  authorities  thought  of  that  ? 

But  the  visit  was  not  altogether  a  failure,  and  some 
very  interesting  flights  of  migrants  were  seen. 

It  is  very  good  to  find  that  after  all  your  visit  to 
Ushant  has  produced  something,  and  I  congratulate 
you  on  the  excellent  reports  you  have  received.  I 
only  hope  they  will  not  bring  the  reporters  into  collision 
with  the  authorities,  or  your  friends  may  find  themselves 
condemned  as  traitors  to  the  Isle  du  Diable  !  How  they 
must  have  enjoyed  the  "  petits  oiseaux "  that  killed 
themselves,  for  there  is  nothing  by  way  of  "  gibier  " 
that  Frenchmen  more  delight  in  ! 

Without  turning  to  Gatke  I  forget  what  is  the 
greatest  number  known  to  have  been  killed  at  Heligo- 
land ;  but  1500  in  one  night  seems  to  be  a  very  big  bag. 

I  heard  the  other  day  of  a  saying  either  from  York- 
shire or  Lincolnshire  which  pleased  me  much.  A  man 
said  that  there  was  such  an  arrival  of  Golden-crested 


BIRDS  AT  A  LIGHT-VESSEL  171 

Wrens  on  the  shore,  that  the  bushes  were  "  lousy  "  with 
them.* 

In  the  autumn  of  1903  Mi.  Eagle  Clarke  spent  thirty- 
one  days  on  board  the  Kentish  Knock  light-vessel,  and 
during  the  last  two  days  he  was  there  he  saw  one  of  the 
largest  movements  of  birds  that  any  ornithologist  had 
ever  witnessed : — 

From  Saturday  at  11  a.m.  until  Sunday  at  4  p.m. 
Starlings  and  Larks  in  extraordinary  numbers  passed 
from  E.  to  W.  without  a  break,  i.e.  a  day  and  night.  .  .  . 
No  one  who  has  not  witnessed  these  E.  to  W.  flights 
can  form  any  idea  of  the  countless  numbers  of  those 
and  other  species  crossing  the  North  Sea  at  this  season. 
On  Saturday  afternoon  the  first  Jackdaws  and  Rooks 
appeared  in  small  numbers.  On  Saturday  at  6.30  p.m. 
and  down  to  5  a.m.  on  Sunday  we  had  crowds  of  birds 
at  the  lantern — Starlings,  Larks,  Meadowpipits,  Chaf- 
finches, Goldcrests,  Mistlethrushes,  Song  Thrushes,  and 
a  few  Rooks  and  Jackdaws  (the  two  latter  species  being 
captured  at  the  lantern).  It  was  pitiable  to  see  the 
numbers  that  rained  overboard.  They  could  only  be 
estimated  at  thousands.  Very  few  fell  on  deck  owing 
to  the  wind  which  prevailed  at  the  time,  and  which 
carried  the  victims  beyond  our  reach.  The  species 
mentioned  were  captured  by  means  of  a  hand  net  by 
a  seaman  stationed  on  the  top  of  the  lantern,  who 
netted  them  like  so  many  moths  as  they  approached  the 
lantern.  In  this  way  we  took  species  varying  from  the 
tiny  Goldcrest  to  the  clumsy  Rook  !  f 

In  acknowledging  this  letter  Newton  wrote  : — 

It  is  very  gratifying  to  know  that  you  are  pleased 
with  the  whole  thing,  and  certainly  the  experiences  of 
your  last  day  or  two  will  be  something  to  remember  for 
ever.  It  is  indeed  a  striking  instance  of  the  enormous 
sacrifice  of  individual  life  made  by  Nature,  I  suppose  for 

*  Letter  to  W.  Eagle  Clarke,  November  20,  1898. 
t  Letter  from  W.  Eagle  Clarke,  October  21,  1903. 


172        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

the  benefit  of  the  species,  but  it  is  hard  to  see  how  the 
machinery  works.  However,  I  am  not  going  to  descant 
on  this  now.  Clearly  your  observations  have  been  more 
interesting  than  those  on  the  Eddystone,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  have  from  you  a  paper  in  the  Ibis  accordingly  ;  but 
more  than  that  they  ought  to  help  enormously  towards 
that  book  on  migration  generally  that  I  have  long  been 
hoping  you  will  one  day  write ;  for  you  of  all  men  are 
the  man  to  do  it.  Still,  still  the  great  mystery  of  how 
the  birds  do  it  remains,  and  that  I  begin  to  fear  will 
never  be  explained  in  my  time  ;  but  it  is  no  deterrent, 
or  ought  not  to  be,  to  you. 

The  more  the  facts  of  migration  are  ascertained  the 
more  likely  are  we  (or  our  successors)  to  understand  what 
brings  them  about ;  so  I  trust  you  will  be  setting 
seriously  to  work  on  what  ought  to  be  a  great  book, 
which  will  cast  into  shade  everything  that  has  been 
written  before,  even  the  good  Barrington's  excellent 
performance. 

Often  as  I  have  thought  over  what  appears  to  be  the 
"  waste  "  of  bird  life  at  sea  (a  thing  which  very  few  people 
ever  take  in  at  all)  this  last  letter  of  yours  fills  me  with 
fresh  and  ever-increasing  amazement.  The  slaughter,  if 
one  may  so  call  it,  seems  so  indiscriminate  ;  there  can  be 
scarcely  room  for  Natural  Selection  to  act.  Were  you 
able  to  form  any  opinion  as  to  the  proportion  of  young 
to  old  birds,  or  were  the  troops  almost  wholly  one  or 
the  other  ?  * 

Mr.  Clarke  could  not  return  a  satisfactory  answer  to 
the  last  question,  owing  to  the  high  speed  at  which  the 
birds  were  travelling,  but  he  remarked  : — 

I  have  a  number  of  notes  on  the  subject  of  old  and 
young,  but  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  it  was  quite 
impossible  to  say  what  the  flocks  were  composed  of  in 
this  respect.  As  to  the  waste  of  life,  I  am  afraid  Nature 
never  contemplated  lighthouse  and  lightship  lanterns, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  she  works,  if  she  works  at 

*  Letter  to  W.  Eagle  Clarke,  October  22,  1903. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  MIGRANTS  173 

all,  in  this  particular  connection.     We  should  expect 
fewer  old  birds  to  perish,  and  yet  what  a  vast  number  do  ! 

Referring  to  this  destruction  of  birds  at  lightships, 
Newton  wrote  : — 

It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  the  destruction  of  life  is 
due  to  the  lightships.  They  only  enable  one  to  see  it. 
It  would  surely  go  on  nearly  the  same  if  there  were  no 
lights.  The  birds  are  evidently  lost  already,  and  they 
only  make  for  the  light  in  the  want  of  any  other  directive 
impulse.  Unless  the  weather  cleared  or  something  else 
(one  hardly  knows  what)  happened,  they  would  fly  on 
aimlessly  till  they  fell  from  exhaustion,  perhaps  on  land, 
most  likely  into  the  sea.  It  is  a  dreadful  problem,  one 
to  keep  one  awake  at  night  thinking  upon  it. 

In  one  way  it  is  plain  that  Natural  Selection  does  act. 
The  birds  that  migrate  successfully,  and  so  carry  on  the 
species,  must  be  of  the  best,  any  shortcoming  must  carry 
a  fatal  penalty  ;  but  what  a  lot  of  unlucky  individuals 
there  must  be  !  * 

It  was  at  Newton's  suggestion  that  Mr.  Eagle  Clarke 
decided  to  write  his  invaluable  book  on  migration,  and 
he  gave  him  help  in  a  hundred  ways  in  the  task.  Newton's 
knowledge  of  the  old  writers  on  Natural  History  was 
profound,  and  he  was  able  to  make  many  suggestions  for 
the  chapter  on  the  history  of  migration. 

January  5,  1905. 

MY  DEAR  CLARKE, 

Such  an  introduction  to  your  book  would  be 
most  desirable  if  not  necessary,  and  I  am  sure  I  will 
gladly  help  you  all  I  can.  Nothing  like  it  has,  I  think, 
been  attempted  of  late  years,  and  the  old  attempts  are 
sure  to  be  full  of  errors,  because  so  much  has  turned  up 
since  they  were  written.  I  have  never  gone  regularly 
into  the  business  and  I  can't  say  oS  hand  what  Aristotle's 
or  Pliny's  views  on  migration  were ;  but  it  will  not  be 

*  Letter  to  W.  Eagle  Clarke,  October  24,  1903. 


174        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

very  difficult  to  make  out,  the  one  drawback  in  the 
former  case  being  that  you  never  know  what  is  his  and 
what  is  his  reporter's  or  note-taker's,  for  I  am  one  of 
those  who  think  that  his  text  has  been  overlaid  by  some 
one  else. 

The  best  edition  of  Aristotle  on  Animals  is  that  by 
Aubert  and  Wimmer,  which  has  a  capital  index  and  a 
German  translation  to  face  the  Greek,  and  that  I  can 
lend  you  at  any  time.  I  have  also  Sillig's  edition  of 
Pliny,  which  is  said  to  be  the  best,  and  that  is  equally  at 
your  service  whenever  you  are  ready  for  it ;  but  I 
suppose  you  are  not  going  to  begin  immediately.  I  think 
you  must  not  trust  Bostock  and  Riley  without  comparing 
their  version  with  the  original.  The  English  translations 
of  Aristotle  are  too  misleading  to  have  anything  to 
do  with. 

A  much  more  troublesome  job  will  be  that  offered  by 
the  mediaeval  writers,  if  you  meddle  with  them  or  their 
successors  of  the  Renaissance,  Belm,  Gesner  and  Aldro- 
vandi ;  but  you  have  to  be  on  your  guard  that 
"  hibernation  "  as  used  by  them  is  restricted  to  its  proper 
meaning — wintering — and  not  necessarily  in  a  torpid 
condition.  I  think  the  belief  in  torpidity  and  sub- 
mergence is  comparatively  recent,  and  it  is  indeed 
astonishing  what  a  hold  it  obtained  on  otherwise  sound- 
thinking  men.  Most  certainly  there  is  no  sign  of  the 
real  ancients,  Homer  and  Job,  holding  it. 

If  I  remember  right,  Pliny  had  a  great  notion  of  birds 
being  transmuted  ;  the  Cuckow  becoming  a  Sparrow- 
Hawk  in  winter,  and  the  Redstart  a  Redbreast ;  but 
Pliny  was  a  very  child-like  person  in  many  ways,  though 
he  met  his  end  as  a  man  of  science  should.  I  have  a 
notion  (which  may  be  wrong)  that  the  submergence 
theory  was  invented  in  the  North,  Olaus  Magnus  and 
people  of  that  sort. 

Anyhow  a  history  of  opinion  on  migration  would  be  a 
delightful  thing  to  write,  and  write  it  I  hope  you  will. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  DISTRIBUTION         175 

Though  he  did  all  that  was  in  his  power  to  forward 
this  study,  the  same  note,  almost  of  despair  of  solving 
the  great  question,  sounds  in  all  his  writings  on  the 
subject  of  migration  : — 

Lay  down  the  paths  of  migrating  birds,  observe 
their  comings  and  goings,  or  strive  to  account  for  the 
impulse  which  urges  them  forward  as  we  will,  there  still 
remains  for  consideration  the  most  marvellous  thing  of 
all — How  do  the  birds  find  their  way  so  unerringly  from 
such  immense  distances  ? 

A  writer  *  in  the  Contemporary  Review,  giving  a  some- 
what fanciful  description  of  the  "  army  of  birds  "  on  the 
Spring  Migration,  remarked  that  it  was  "  like  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  which  cometh  not  by  observation." 
Newton  justly  retorted  that  all  we  know  of  migration  is 
due  to  observation,  and  nearly  all  we  do  not  know  to 
want  of  it. 

Closely  connected  with  Migration  is  the  Geographical 
Distribution  of  Birds.  The  publication  in  1876  of 
Wallace's  great  book  f  was  welcomed  by  Newton  as  an 
event — 

that  will,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  in  after  ages  charac- 
terise the  present  year  as  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  our 
sciences  inferior  only  in  importance  to  that  which  marked 
some  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  ago  the  promulgation 
of  a  reasonable  Theory  of  Evolution  by  Mr.  Darwin  and 
Mr.  Wallace.  And  while  it  is  to  the  latter  of  these  two 
naturalists  that  we  owe  the  boon  that  has  recently  been 
conferred  on  us,  it  is  unquestionably  from  the  former 
labours  of  both — united  yet  distinct — that  the  boon 
acquires  its  greatest  value. 

He  was  careful,  however,  to  add  that  he  by  no  means 

*  The  Duke  of  Argyll,  Contemporary  Review,  July,  1880. 

t  "  The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Animals,  with  a  Study  of  the 
relations  of  living  and  extinct  Faunas  as  elucidating  the  Past  Changes  of 
the  Earth's  Surface."  By  Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  2  vols. 


176        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

pinned  his  faith  to  all  the  author's  details  or  to  all  his 
conclusions. 

As  was  the  case  with  many  other  naturalists,  he  had 
long  been  groping  in  the  dark  with  regard  to  this 
question,  and  Wallace's  book  immediately  let  in  a  flood 
of  light. 

With  regard  to  the  Ptarmigan  question  I  think  I  can 
tell  you  exactly  how  the  mistake  of  admitting  Lagopus 
rupestris  as  a  British  bird  originated.  More  than  a 
century  since  Edwards  described  and  figured  under  the 
name  of  "  Rock  Grouse  "  a  Ptarmigan  from  Hudson's 
Bay,  which  as  the  figure  now  shows  must  have  been  a 
hen  bird  in  the  orange-yellow  plumage  of  the  breeding 
season,  and  on  this  figure  was  founded  the  species  known 
in  systems  as  Tetrao  (or  Lagopus)  rupestris — a  name 
which  is  therefore  applicable  to  the  smaller  black-tailed 
Ptarmigan  of  the  northern  parts  of  North  America. 

The  different  plumages  assumed  by  the  Ptarmigan  of 
Europe  were  for  a  long  time  little  known,  and  for  at 
least  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  present  century  it  was 
generally  (I  do  not  say  universally)  assumed  among 
naturalists  that  this  bird  had  but  two  states  of  plumage, 
being  white  in  winter  and  grey  in  summer,  this  last 
assumption  being,  as  we  now  know,  partly  an  error,  since 
in  the  breeding  season,  i.e.  at  the  beginning  of  summer, 
the  plumage  of  the  hen  is  orange-yellow,  while  the  grey 
dress  is  put  on  later  in  the  summer  and  may  be  more 
correctly  called  the  autumnal  plumage.  However,  this 
fact  was  not  generally  known  to  the  naturalists  of  the 
time  who  (with  perhaps  a  few  exceptions)  believed  that 
the  summer  plumage  of  the  European  Ptarmigan  was 
grey  and  that  of  the  American  orange-yellow. 

Under  this  belief,  some  thirty  years  or  more  ago  (I 
cannot,  in  the  absence  of  books,  speak  positively),  a  hen 
Ptarmigan  was  sent  from  Scotland  to  (I  think)  Lord 
Stanley  in  orange-yellow  plumage,  the  ordinary  plumage 
of  the  breeding  season,  and  as  at  that  time  it  was  con- 
sidered that  the  American  species  only  assumed  a  dress 


THE  PTARMIGAN  177 

of  this  colour,  it  was  naturally  thought  that  this  Scotch 
specimen  belonged  to  the  American  species,  and  accord- 
ingly Lagopus  rupestris  was  enrolled  as  a  British  bird. 
This  appears  from  Mr.  Eyton's  book  and  I  think  also 
from  the  "  Fauna  Boreali- Americana." 

When  it  was  subsequently  discovered  that  the  hen  of 
the  Scotch  Ptarmigan  had  a  breeding-plumage  of  orange- 
yellow  like  that  hitherto  supposed  to  be  peculiar  to  the 
American  bird,  the  presumption  became  strong  that  those 
who  considered  Lord  Stanley's  specimen  to  belong  to 
L.  rupestris  were  mistaken,  and  this  presumption  became 
almost  proved  when  time  went  on  and  no  one  could 
point  to  a  Scotch  specimen  of  a  cock  bird  with  the 
characters  of  L.  rupestris. 

For  myself  I  feel  well  assured  that  there  is  no  reason- 
able ground  for  supposing  that  L.  rupestris  has  ever 
occurred  in  Scotland. 

That  you  should  find  the  Ptarmigan  of  the  hill-tops 
in  Sutherland  and  thereabout  smaller  than  those  fre- 
quenting a  lower  zone  is  quite  in  accordance  with  what 
I  should  suppose  would  be  the  case,  but  I  cannot  believe 
that  any  valid  specific  distinction  can  be  made  out 
between  them.  Look  how  Grouse  and  Partridges  vary 
in  size  according  to  the  district  in  which  they  are  reared, 
but  indeed  there  is  no  need  to  draw  examples  from  other 
species,  since  the  Ptarmigan  itself,  to  my  knowledge, 
supplies  instances.  The  largest  Ptarmigan  I  ever  saw 
or  handled  was  obtained  on  the  island  of  Qvalo  (on  which 
Hammerfest  stands),  I  think  two  of  them  would  almost 
weigh  as  much  as  three  from  the  mountainous  frontier 
region  of  Norway,  Sweden  and  Finland,  and  the  fact  may 
I  believe  be  explained  thus  :  Owing  to  the  influence  of 
the  Gulf  Stream  Qvalo  (though  situated  further  north) 
enjoys  winters  much  less  long  and  severe  than  does  the 
mountain  tract  in  question,  and  one  may  safely  assume 
that  the  Ptarmigan  of  the  former  are  better  fed  and 
consequently  as  a  rule  larger  than  those  of  the  latter.  In 
like  manner  the  Ptarmigans  of  your  middle  hill  zone  are 
larger  (as  you  say)  than  those  of  the  summits.  The  fact 

H 


178        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

your  informant  mentioned  of  the  hilltop  Ptarmigan 
assuming  their  winter  plumage  earlier  than  the  birds 
lower  down  shows  that  the  winter  there  is  longer,  as  of 
course,  might  -,  have  been  predicated,  and  it  is  extremely 
interesting  to  me  to  have  my  observations  of  the  Nor- 
wegian birds  borne  out  by  yours  of  the  Scotch  ones.  The 
very  fact  you  mention  of  the  Ptarmigan  being  scarce 
on  the  Sutherland  hilltops  and  plentiful  lower  down 
shows  that  the  conditions  of  their  existence  on  the 
former  are  less  favourable  to  them  than  where  less 
exposed. 

As  to  Lagopus  montanus,  as  I  have  said  elsewhere,  I 
believe  that  all  the  mountain  Ptarmigans  of  Europe 
(exclusive  of  Iceland  and  Spitzbergen)  are  referable  to 
one  and  the  same  species,  viz.  L.  mutus,  but  I  must 
confess  that  I  have  not  had  all  the  opportunities  I  should 
like  of  comparing  Ptarmigans  from  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees 
with  those  of  Scotland  and  Scandinavia.  It  is  true  that 
the  Swiss  and  Pyrenean  birds  are  now  completely  isolated 
and  cut  off  by  a  wide  interval  from  their  northern 
brethren,  but  no  one  can  doubt  that  there  was  a  time 
and  that  (geologically  speaking)  not  so  long  ago  when  the 
range  of  the  species  was  uninterrupted.  Bones  of  the 
Willow  Grouse  and  Snowy  Owl  are  found  in  the  French 
bone-caverns  very  far  south,  contemporary  with  those 
of  the  Rein-Deer,  and  it  is  pretty  plain  that  as  that 
glacial  epoch  gradually  disappeared  birds  of  the  habits 
of  the  Ptarmigan  would  be  driven  (by  the  coming  of  a 
warmer  climate)  to  the  mountains,  while  they  would 
cease  to  exist  in  the  low  countries.* 

Although  he  would  never  commit  himself  in  his 
published  writings  to  theories  of  migration  and  distribu- 
tion, he  sometimes  allowed  himself  to  speculate  on  such 
matters  in  correspondence  with  his  friends  : — 

I  never  made  any  notes  that  would  be  of  any  use  to 
you  on  the  polar  distribution  of  animals,  for  I  did  not 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  October  11,  1869. 


ORIGIN  OF  LIFE  179 

get  far  enough  for  that  at  the  time  when  I  was  thinking 
whether  I  could  bring  the  subject  into  a  lecture.  What 
then  occurred  to  me  was  little  more  than  this  : — 

Life  on  the  earth  most  likely  had  its  origin  at  one  of 
the  poles,  since  there  conditions  that  admit  of  its  existence 
would  first  occur  as  the  planet  was  slowly  cooling  down. 

Gradually  Life,  now  differentiated  into  Plant  Life  and 
Animal  Life,  made  its  way  towards  the  Equator,  and  in 
so  doing  became  more  and  more  differentiated. 

Then  must  (?)  have  come  a  change  which  wholly  or 
almost  wholly  divested  the  poles  or  pole  of  Life,  confining 
it  to  equatorial  regions.  Such  a  change  as  this  was 
probably  more  than  once  repeated  in  the  course  of  various 
geological  epochs.  When  things  pretty  much  as  we  know 
them  now  came  to  be  established  there  was  (and  is) 
probably  very  little  if  anything  left  of  the  primeval  polar 
life ;  for  setting  aside  the  possible  total  extinction  of  it 
through  severity  of  climatic  conditions,  evolution  would 
have  so  far  improved  the  forms  that  were  travelling 
polewards  that  any  vestiges  of  the  original  polar  life 
would  be  swept  away  by  the  better-fitted  newcomers. 

But  of  course  all  this,  or  very  nearly  all,  is  absolute 
speculation.  The  most  that  can  be  said  in  its  favour  is 
that  such  facts  as  we  know  do  not  seem  to  contradict  it. 
So  long  as  the  "  Geological  Record  "  is  so  imperfect  I  do 
not  see  how  we  are  to  advance  further. 

Moreover,  you  will  see  that  my  speculations  had 
reference  to  periods  long  anterior  to  even  the  Eocene. 
In  the  Eocene  period  nearly  all  the  big  divisions  that  we 
have  now  were  already  well  established  ;  e.g.  Birds, 
Hesperornis  and  Ichthyorws,  one  Ratite  the  other  Cari- 
nate.  If  the  Miocene  coal-beds  at  Discovery  Bay  ever 
yield  any  Vertebrate  remains  they  will  probably  be 
found  very  like  things  that  now  exist,  and  to  judge  from 
the  analogy  of  botanical  remains,  they  may  be  more 
like  things  of  Europe  and  North  America  than  those  of 
South  America  or  New  Australia,  not  to  say  New 
Zealand.* 

*  Letter  to  Col.  H.  W.  Feilden,  January  7,  1886. 


180        MIGKATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

Thanks  for  your  annotated  copy  of  the  Rednecked 
Flareup  [Phalarope] ;  but  some  of  the  questions  you  ask 
are  easier  put  than  answered.  What  is  "  Arctic  "  in  one 
longitude  may  be  only  "  Subarctic  "  in  another  ;  and  as 
for  "  Boreal  "  or  even  "  Polar,"  the  meaning  assigned  to 
them  (especially  the  former)  depends  much  on  the  fancy 
of  the  inquirer.  There  can't  be  a  doubt,  I  think,  that 
Phalaropus  fulicarius  has  a  more  northern  range  than 
P.  hyperboreus,  and  might  be  almost  justifiably  called 
"  Polar  "  ;  yet  it  does  breed,  as  I  have  every  reason  to 
believe,  in  the  S.W.  corner  of  Iceland,  a  good  way  short 
of  the  Arctic  Circle.  One  does  not  know  what  to  make 
of  these  things,  or  whether  there  is  any  use  in  labelling 
such  or  such  a  species  as  "  Polar,"  "  Arctic  "  and  the 
like. 

I  wish  one  knew  what  ordinarily  becomes  of  the 
multitudes  of  Phalaropes  of  either  species  when  they 
come  southward  at  the  end  of  summer.  Occasionally 
something  goes  wrong  and  then  they  occur  here  (two,  if 
not  three,  Grey  Phalaropes  were  one  autumn  killed  in  the 
Cam  at  the  bottom  of  the  gardens  of  this  college,  not  300 
yards  from  where  I  am  now  writing,  15  or  20  years  ago), 
there  and  everywhere,  and  ingenious  persons  sit  down  to 
compile  a  "  wreck  chart ;  "  it  would  be  more  to  the 
purpose  to  know  the  course  of  their  successful  voyages. 
Do  they,  like  other  LimicolcB,wmg  their  way  by  night 
unseen  of  us  to  Southern  waters  ;  or  do  they  herd  with 
the  millions  of  .-Botches,  Brunnich's  Guillemots,  and  so 
on,  in  some  parts  of  the  Atlantic  rarely  visited  or  never 
by  the  observing  ornithologist  ? 

It  is  interesting  to  read  of  "  record  bags  "  of  Wood- 
cocks and  so  forth  in  Shetland  or  elsewhere,  but  depend 
upon  it  those  are  the  exceptional  events  in  the  economy 
of  a  species,  the  very  fact  of  their  being  "  records  "  proves 
that,  but  (I  humbly  think)  proves  very  little  else. 

This  afternoon  we  had  a  snowstorm,  and  in  half  an 
hour  what  seemed  to  be  nearly  an  inch  of  snow  fell,  but 
that  only  shows  what  the  weather  when  it  has  a  mind  to 
be  malicious  can  do  ;  but  it  is  not  in  the  ordinary  course 


HOLAECTIC  REGION  181 

of  things  that  it  should  occur  on  April  15.  Don't  think 
for  a  moment  that  I  despise  these  inquiries ;  very 
far  from  it.  If  our  excellent  forefathers,  whose  souls  I 
trust  are  with  the  saints,  had  only  made  similar  observa- 
tions, we  should  know  more.  I  only  object  to  arriving 
at  conclusions  on  very  slight  evidence.* 

There  was,  however,  one  important  point  about 
which  he  had  no  hesitation  in  declaring  his  difference 
from  Wallace,  and  that  was  in  regard  to  the  latter's 
Nearctic  and  Palsearctic  Regions.  Newton  found  many 
reasons  for  grouping  these  two,  with  certain  important 
modifications,  into  one,  which  he  called  the  "  Holarctic," 
and  he  had  the  satisfaction  later  of  seeing  his  views 
accepted  by  other  biologists.  He  lost  no  opportunities 
of  acquiring  information  about  the  faunas  of  debatable 
regions,  more  particularly  of  those  oceanic  islands,  which 
always  had  for  him  the  greatest  fascination. 

One  thing  I  beseech  you  to  look  out  for.  The  amiable 
land-reformer  Wallace  makes  the  Cape  Verd  Islands 
"  Paleearctic,"  to  the  humble  disciple  who  now  addresses 
you  they  seem  to  be  "  Ethiopian."  May  it  be  your  lot 
to  settle  this  point,  and  that  you  may  settle  it  I  pray 
you  not  to  stick  only  to  birds,  delightful  and  always 
blessed  as  they  are,  but  pocket  all  the  shells,  glycerine 
all  the  beetles,  pin  all  the  butterflies  and  other  bugs, 
and  in  fact  do  all  you  can  in  the  way  of  collecting  down 
to  the  "  lowest  marines." 

After  behaving  in  this  fashion  the  odour  of  sanctity 
which  clings  to  your  head  will  be  enormously  intensified 
and  become  a  quintessence  of  sweet  savour  ;  but  please 
to  remember  I  don't  care  a  button  whether  you  prove 
these  islands  to  be  Palsearctic  or  Ethiopian,  I  only  want 
to  know  the  truth,  though  I  admit  it  would  be  incon- 
venient if  you  were  to  find  they  were  Neotropical ;  but 
then  I  can  trust  you,  for  you  do  not  seek  a  reputation 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  April  15, 1903. 


182        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

to  be  obtained  only  by  the  discovery  of  mare's  nests,  as 
is  the  fashion  nowadays.* 

He  had  much  correspondence,  always  of  a  very 
friendly  nature,  with  Mr.  Wallace,  and  so  far  as  this 
question  is  concerned,  it  ended  with  the  following 
letter  :— 

Magdalene  College,  Cambridge, 

June  17,  1894. 

MY  DEAR  WALLACE, 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  the  paper  you  have 
sent  me.  I  saw  the  title  of  it  advertised  and  got  a  copy 
of  Natural  Science  accordingly — reading  it  with  interest 
but  with  no  little  regret,  though  I  have  no  fault  to  find 
with  the  way  in  which  you  defend  your  position  and 
attack  mine.  Indeed,  I  highly  appreciate  your  delicacy 
and  feel  sure  of  your  wish  to  do  nothing  but  bring  out 
the  truth.  I  should  much  like  to  reply  to  you,  but  I 
really  don't  know  when  I  can  find  time  to  do  so.  I  am 
off  on  Tuesday  for  a  three  weeks'  holiday  beyond  the 
reach,  I  hope,  of  posts.  I  will  only  remark  now  that  you 
proceed  on  the  supposition  that  my  "  Holarctic  "  Region 
=your  Palaearctic  and  Nearctic — whereas  the  southern 
boundaries  of  this  last  are,  in  my  opinion  and  that  of 
several  American  zoologists,  very  uncertain — though  to 
me  it  is  clear  that  the  Neotropical  Region  extends  much 
more  to  the  northward  than  you  would  have  it  run — and 
probably  the  same  is  to  be  said  of  the  Indian  Region. 
Thus  a  very  considerable  number  of  the  genera,  which 
you  assign  to  your  Nearctic  and  Palaearctic  Regions, 
belong  really  to  more  southern  areas,  and  by  their 
elimination  your  lists  would  present  a  very  different 
aspect.  Again,  too,  you  have  omitted  from  your  Nearctic 
list  all  the  Palaearctic  genera  of  birds  which  inhabit 
Alaska,  and  if  I  am  not  mistaken  there  are  several 
Mammals  also,  making  Alaska  essentially  Palaearctic. 
There  are  also  not  a  few  other  (as  it  seems  to  me) 
inaccuracies,  which  would  make  no  small  change. 

*  Letter  to  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram,  February  16,  1889. 


ADDRESS  AT  MANCHESTER  183 

I  have  always  looked  on  the  study  of  Geographical 
Distribution  as  having  a  most  important  bearing  on 
Evolution — but  the  greater  part  of  this  bearing  would 
really  be  obscured,  if  your  doctrines  be  correct.  I  do 
not  know  that  there  is  much  use  in  having  "  Regions  " 
at  all,  but  certainly  there  is  very  little  if  they  are  to  be 
considered  for  the  most  part  identical  with  the  main 
division,  ordinarily  accepted  by  geographers.  I  have, 
however,  a  strong  belief  in  "  Faunas,"  as  you  may  see 
from  what  I  foreshadowed  at  the  end  of  my  British 
Association  address  at  Manchester  some  years  ago. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

The  passage  in  his  address  at  Manchester,  to  which 
allusion  is  made  in  the  foregoing  letter,  so  well  exhibits 
Newton's  broadness  of  mind  that  it  may  fittingly  be 
quoted  here : — 

...  I  would,  by  way  of  conclusion,  offer  a  few  re- 
marks on  the  aspect  which  the  subject  of  Geographical 
Distribution  presents  to  me.  Some  of  us  zoologists — I 
am  conscious  of  having  myself  been  guilty  of  what  I  am 
about  to  condemn — have  been  apt  to  speak  of  Zoological 
Regions  as  if  they  were,  and  always  had  been,  fixed  areas. 
I  am  persuaded  that  if  we  do  this  we  fall  into  an  error  as 
grievous  as  that  of  our  predecessors,  who  venerated  the 
fixity  of  species.  One  of  the  best  tests  of  a  biologist  is 
his  being  able  to  talk  or  write  of  "  species  "  without 
believing  that  the  term  is  more  than  a  convenient  counter 
for  the  exchange  of  ideas.  In  the  same  way  I  hold  that 
a  good  biologist  should  talk  or  write  of  "  Zoological 
Regions."  The  expression  no  doubt  arose  out  of  the 
belief,  now  scouted  by  all,  in  Centres  of  Creation ;  and, 
as  sometimes  used,  the  vice  of  its  birth  still  clings  to  it. 
To  my  mind  the  true  meaning  of  the  phrase  "  Zoological 
Region  "  is  that  of  an  area  inhabited  by  a  fauna  which  is, 
so  to  speak,  a  "  function  "  of  the  period  of  its  develop- 
ment and  prevalence  over  a  great  part  of  the  habitable 


184        MIGRATION  AND  DISTRIBUTION 

globe,  but  at  any  rate  of  the  period  of  its  reaching  the 
portion  of  the  earth's  surface  where  we  now  find  it.  One 
great  thing  to  guard  against  is  the  presumption  that  the 
fauna  originated  within  its  present  area  and  has  been 
always  contained  therein.  Thus  I  take  it  that  the  fauna 
which  characterises  the  New  Zealand  Region — for  I  follow 
Professor  Huxley  in  holding  that  a  region  it  is  fully 
entitled  to  be  called — is  the  comparatively  little-changed 
relifc  and  representative  of  an  early  fauna  of  much  wider 
range ;  that  the  characteristic  fauna  of  the  Australian 
Region  exhibits  in  the  same  way  that  of  a  later  period  ; 
and  that  of  the  Neotropical  Region  of  one  later  still.  But 
while  the  first  two  regions  have  each  been  so  long 
isolated  that  a  large  proportion  of  their  fauna  remains 
essentially  unaltered,  the  last  has  never  been  so  com- 
pletely severed,  and  has  received,  doubtless  from  the 
north,  an  infusion  of  more  recent  and  therefore  stronger 
forms  ;  while,  perhaps  impelled  by  the  rivalry  of  these 
stronger  forms,  the  weaker  have  blossomed,  as  it  were, 
into  the  richness  and  variety  which  so  eminently 
characterise  the  animal  products  of  Central  and  South 
America.  I  make  no  attempt  to  connect  these  changes 
with  geological  events,  but  they  will  doubtless  one  day 
be  explained  geologically.  It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive 
that  North  America  was  once  inhabited  by  the  ancestors 
of  a  large  proportion  of  the  present  Neotropical  fauna, 
and  that  the  latter  was  wholly,  or  almost  wholly,  thrust 
forth — perhaps  by  glacial  action,  perhaps  by  the  incur- 
sion of  stronger  forms  from  Asia.  The  small  admixture 
of  Neotropical  forms  that  now  occur  in  North  America 
may  have  been  surviviors  of  this  period  of  stress,  or  they 
may  be  the  descendants  of  the  more  ancient  forms 
resuming  their  lost  inheritance.  Beyond  the  fact  that 
these  few  Neotropical  forms  continue  to  exist  in  North 
America,  its  fauna  seems  to  be  in  a  broad  sense  insepar- 
able from  that  of  the  Palsearctic  area,  and,  in  my  belief, 
is  not  to  be  separated  from  it.  The  most  difficult 
problems  are  those  connected  with  the  Ethiopian  and 
Indian  (which  Mr.  Wallace  calls  the  Oriental)  areas  ;  but 


ZOOLOGICAL  REGIONS  185 

I  suppose  we  must  regard  them  as  offshoots  from  a 
somewhat  earlier  condition  of  the  great  northern  or 
"  Holarctic  "  fauna,  and  as  such  to  represent  a  state  of 
things  that  once  existed  in  Europe  and  the  greater  part 
of  Asia.  To  pursue  this  subject — one  of  most  pleasing 
speculation — would  now  be  impossible.  I  pray  you  to 
pardon  my  prolixity,  and  I  have  done.* 

*  Presidential   Address    to    Biological   Section,    British    Association, 
Manchester,  1887. 


CHAPTER  XI 

GILBERT   WHITE   AND   OTHERS 

IF  it  can  be  said  that  Newton's  life  was  influenced 
more  by  any  one  man  than  by  another,  that  man  was 
unquestionably  Gilbert  White,  of  Selborne.  We  have 
his  word  for  it  that  he  had  the  greatest  admiration  for 
White  from  his  very  boyhood,  and  in  his  "Journal,"  of 
June  26, 1844,  he  records  the  fact  that  "  To-day  is  the 
anniversary  of  the  death  of  Gilbert  White,  1793  " — a  boy 
of  fifteen  does  not  lightly  take  notice  of  an  event  of  that 
kind.  To  use  a  somewhat  old-fashioned  and,  perhaps, 
out-of-date  expression,  both  were  of  "  gentle  birth,"  and 
he  often  quoted  and  commented  on  Gilbert  White's 
expression  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Robert  Marsham, "  I 
was  born  and  bred  a  gentleman  and  hope  I  may  be 
allowed  to  die  such." 

The  smallest  detail  connected  with  the  life  and 
writings  of  Gilbert  White  always  had  the  deepest  interest 
for  Newton,  and  he  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  adding 
to  the  meagre  facts  recorded.  During  many  years  before 
its  publication  in  1877  he  assisted  in  the  preparation,  and 
read  all  the  proofs,  of  the  edition  of  "  Selborne  "  edited 
by  Professor  Thomas  Bell,  F.R.S.  That  edition  con- 
tained nearly  a  hundred  letters  of  Gilbert  White  which 
had  never  been  published  before,  and  was  thus  im- 
measurably superior  to  previous  editions,  but  Bell 
had  made  a  somewhat  perfunctory  use  of  the  mass  of 
material  lent  him  by  White's  descendants.  Newton  was 
especially  disappointed  that  so  little  information  was 
recorded  of  White's  brothers,  Thomas,  Benjamin,  and 

186 


BELL'S  EDITION  OF  "  SELBORNE  "      187 

John  ;  the  last  was  chaplain  at  Gibraltar,  of  which  place 
he  wrote  a  zoology  that  was  never  printed,  and  was  for 
many  years  a  correspondent  of  Linnaeus.  Another 
blemish,  to  Newton's  mind,  on  the  book  was  the  omission, 
due  to  what  he  considered  Professor  Bell's  "  prudery,"  of 
many  interesting  letters.  The  language  of  the  eighteenth 
century  was  somewhat  more  free  than  that  of  the  nine- 
teenth, and  though  White  never  used  expressions  which 
could  be  called  coarse  even  by  the  most  fastidious,  he 
spoke  and  wrote  openly  and  naturally  in  the  manner  of  his 
time.  In  spite  of  protests,  Professor  Bell  omitted  many 
quaint  and  even  amusing  passages,  lest  they  should  bring 
a  blush  to  the  cheek  of  the  young  lady  of  his  day. 

Old  Bell  has  at  last  brought  out  his  Edn.  of  "  Gilbert 
White,"  the  second  volume  of  which  contains  some 
charming  letters  and  shows  him  to  have  been  (what  I 
always  suspected  he  was)  a  naturalist  Mr.  Pepys.  But 
Bell  has  been  foolishly  prudish,  and  because  there  were 
certain  expressions  rather  broader  than  are  nowadays 
used  he  cut  them  out  unsparingly.  E.g. — there  was  a 
certain  Dr.  Chandler,  a  friend  of  White's,  who  being  on 
the  Continent  at  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution, 
was  driven  from  pillar  to  post,  but  at  length  with  his 
wife  took  refuge  at  Selborne.  The  first  thing  the  good 
lady  did  was  to  be  brought  to  bed,  and  dear  old  G.W. 
writes  to  a  friend  on  the  event  that  the  Dr.  was  infinitely 
diverted  because  he  could  not  determine  in  which 
country  of  Europe  his  infant  was  begotten.  This  Bell 
has  struck  out.  I  saw  the  passage  in  the  proof,  and 
begged  it  might  remain  ;  but  to  no  purpose.  The  same 
with  a  passage  in  which  White,  describing  the  effects  of 
an  exceeding  cold  winter  and  protracted  spring,  observes 
of  his  attenuated  haystacks  that  it  would  have  been 
creditable  to  the  last  two  young  ladies  he  married  to 
their  swains  had  their  waists  been  as  thin !  This 
prudery  is  disgusting.* 

*  Letter  to  Lord  Lilford,  February  10, 1878. 


188         GILBERT  WHITE  AND  OTHERS 

Later,  in  answer  to  a  question  of  Mr.  Holt  White  as  to 
the  publication  of  certain  passages  in  the  letters  of  John 
Mulso,  Gilbert  White's  contemporary  and  lifelong  friend, 
he  expressed  himself  to  much  the  same  effect : — 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  say  what  the  owner  of  these 
letters  should  or  should  not  print ;  of  course,  I  know  that 
men  will  write  many  things  that  should  not  be  printed. 
I  protested  most  vehemently  (only  alas !  too  late) 
against  certain  passages  that  Wheatly  printed  for  the 
first  time  in  his  Edition  of  Pepys,  which  render  it  im- 
possible to  leave  about  the  volume  that  contains  them. 
But  in  my  opinion  there  is  nothing  in  Mulso's  letters  that 
might  not  appear  ;  there  are  expressions  showing  a 
coarse  mind,  which  I  am  sure  was  in  great  contrast  to 
Gilbert  White's,  but  nothing  worse,  and  if  it  is  said  that 
certain  passages  have  been  suppressed  people  will  put  a 
harsher  construction  on  Mulso's  character  than  they 
would  if  the  passages  were  in  evidence.  More  than  that 
they  will  wonder  how  Gilbert  White  could  live  in  affec- 
tionate friendship  with  such  a  man,  so  that  his  character 
suffers  also.  Puris  omnia  pura  is  a  good  motto,  and  if 
one  did  not  believe  in  it  one  has  no  business  to  teach 
Zoology. 

No  doubt  that  people  in  the  18th  century  did  things 
openly  that  they  are  now  ashamed  of  doing,  and  also 
that  ideas  of  what  a  parson  might  or  might  not  do  were 
then  very  different  from  what  they  are  at  the  present 
day  ;  but  I  greatly  doubt  our  being  better  than  our  fore- 
fathers, who  did  not  brag  of  their  virtues  as  we  do  ; 
indeed,  I  should  think  that  Pharisaism  had  greatly  in- 
creased in  the  last  fifty  years.* 

There  were  other  editions  of  Gilbert  White's  book  for 
which  Newton  could  find  no  good  words  to  say,  and 
among  the  worst  offenders  was  the  late  Mr.  Grant  Allen. 

.  .  .  The  death  of  the  editor,  which  almost  coincided 

*  Letter  to  R.  Holt-White,  November  17,  1906. 


GRANT  ALLEN'S  EDITION  189 

with  the  issue  of  the  book,  makes  the  reviewer's  task 
peculiarly  ungrateful,  since  with  the  greatest  respect  for 
Mr.  Allen,  it  must  be  deliberately  said  that  if  there  were 
a  work  off  which  he  ought  to  have  kept  his  hands  it  was 
the  "Natural  History  of  Selborne."  How  little  he 
could  understand  the  author,  or  enter  into  his  feelings, 
and  it  will  be  admitted  that  no  man  can  properly  edit  a 
book  without  being  imbued  by  its  spirit,  may  be  seen  by 
a  passage  in  his  Introduction  (p.  xxxi)  where,  wholly 
unmindful  of  what  is  shown  by  the  work  itself  or  the 
portions  of  the  author's  correspondence  printed  by  Bell, 
Gilbert  White  is  represented  as  settling  down  at  Sel- 
borne "  to  a  placid  bachelor  existence,"  and  "  being  a 
celibate  Fellow  "  (how  many  Fellows  were  there  in  those 
days,  and  for  long  after,  who  were  not  celibate  ?)  "he 
gave  himself  up  almost  entirely  to  his  favourate  fad  of 
watching  the  beasts  and  birds  of  his  native  country."  If 
a  word  could  be  found  to  raise  a  feeling  of  disgust  among 
the  thousands  of  admirers  of  Gilbert  White,  it  is  that 
which  is  above  italicised.  Who  but  a  vulgarian  could 
conceive  of  White's  lifelong  devotion  to  the  study  of 
Natural  History  being  designated  a  "  fad  "  ?  And  yet 
Mr.  Allen  wrote  himself  a  naturalist !  How  much  he 
knew  of  the  methods  of  observing  naturalists  in  general, 
and  of  White's  in  particular,  is  shown  by  another  passage 
in  the  same  Introduction  (p.  xxxiii).  Describing  the 
lawn  and  garden  at  Selborne,  this  editor  is  pleased  to 
say  :  "  Here  the  easy-minded  Fellow  of  Oriel  and  curate 
of  Faringdon  could  sit  in  his  rustic  chair  all  day  long,  and 
observe  the  birds  and  beasts  as  they  dropped  in  to  visit 
him."  What  the  fellowship  and  curacy  have  to  do  with 
the  matter  is  not  apparent,  but  had  Mr.  Allen  any  ex- 
perience of  observational  natural  history,  he  would  have 
known  that  beasts  and  birds  do  not  "  drop  in  "  to  visit 
people  sitting  all  day  long  in  chairs,  rustic  or  otherwise  ; 
while  he  must  have  read  Gilbert  White's  writings  to  very 
little  purpose  to  think  that  was  the  way  in  which  the 
observations,  so  inimitably  recorded,  were  taken.  There 
is  hardly  a  bit  of  armchair  work  in  the  whole  of  them. .  . . 


190         GILBERT  WHITE  AND  OTHERS 

Grant  Allen's  edition  contained  the  marginal  notes 
made  by  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge  in  his  own  copy  of  the 
book.  "  These  Marginalia  are  sixteen  in  number,  and 
by  how  much  the  world  is  better  for  their  publica- 
tion it  is  not  easy  to  say,  since  anything  more  inane 
and  commonplace  than  most  of  them  cannot  well  be 
imagined."  Newton  sarcastically  suggested  the  issue  of 
a  supplement  to  the  New  English  Dictionary  to  contain 
what  Mr.  Allen  called  Coleridge's  "  certain  yet  hitherto 
unknown  etymology  "  of  the  word  gossamer,  as  "  God's 
Dame's  Hair,"  which  illustrates  the  old  notion  well 
expressed  by  the  saying  of  an  expert,  that  "  the  less 
authority  there  is  for  any  derivation  the  more  glorious 
is  the  guess  !  "  (W.  W.  Skeat  in  litt.  ad  hoc). 

Another  edition  of  Selborne  which  appeared  at  about 
the  same  time  was  that  of  Dr.  Richard  Bowdler  Sharpe, 
with  ten  pages  of  introduction  by  the  Dean  of  Rochester, 
"  a  part  of  the  performance  which  may  be  dismissed  with 
the  remark  that  more  than  half  of  it  would  serve  as  a 
prelude  to  almost  any  kind  of  book."  One  of  the  worst 
features  of  that  edition  is  that  it  contains  imaginary 
portraits  of  Gilbert  White,  of  whom  one  of  the  best 
known  personal  facts  is  that  he  would  never  sit  for  his 
portrait.  This  roused  Newton's  just  anger,  and  he  de- 
scribed the  figures  as  "  offensive  impertinences,"  and — 

as  such  they  will  properly  be  resented  by  all  lovers  of  his 
memory.  Moreover  they  all  express  one  and  the  same 
falsification,  proving  the  draughtsman's  ignorance  of  his 
victim's  personal  appearance.  In  every  one  Gilbert 
White  is  represented  as  "  wearing  his  own  hair,"  to  use 
the  old  phrase.  Yet  we  have  undoubted  proof  that  he 
always  wore  a  wig,  as  did  nearly  all  the  respectable 
gentlemen  of  his  day.  In  1752  we  find  him  paying  forty- 
five  shillings  for  a  "  feather  top'd  grizzle  wig  "  from 
London;  and  in  1783  his  niece  wrote  to  him  from 


OTHER  EDITIONS  191 

London,  "  Mr.  Grimble  has  sent  your  wig,"  while  the 
humorous  lines,  ascribed  to  him  by  Bell — 

Ye  worthy  friends  in  Abchurch  Lane, 

Who  do  our  noddles  thatch, 
Send  me  a  wig,  but  not  too  big, 

With  care  and  with  despatch, — 

which  are  said  to  have  formed  one  of  his  orders,  tell  of 
this  wig-wearing  as  a  constant  habit.  However  these 
objectionable  caricatures  may  suit  some  debased  tastes, 
they  represent  him  as  something  between  a  clerical  fop 
and  a  fool.  ...  It  may  be  added  that  all  are  equally 
false  and  equally  vulgar.  * 

Though  Newton  never  edited  "  Selborne  "  himself — 
there  is,  indeed,  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he  even  con- 
templated doing  so — he  spared  no  time  and  pains  in 
helping  others  who  were  writing  about  White  or  in 
trying  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of  the  naturalist  or  to 
explain  doubtful  points  in  his  notes  and  letters.  His 
article  on  Gilbert  White  written  for  the  "  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography  "  contains  a  large  amount  of  informa- 
tion which  was  at  that  time  unknown.  This  was  to  a 
great  extent  due  to  the  help  he  received  from  Mr. 
Kashleigh  Holt- White,  the  living  head  of  White's  family, 
who  was  at  that  time  preparing  the  life  of  his  great- 
grand-uncle,  and  was  in  possession  of  all  the  family 
papers.  This  article  contains  Newton's  considered 
opinion  of  Gilbert  White  as  a  naturalist,  and  as  it  was 
too  long  to  be  printed  completely  in  the  published  volume, 
a  part  of  it  may  be  quoted  here. 

That  White's  "  Selborne  "  is  the  only  work  on  natural 
history  which  has  attained  the  rank  of  an  English  classic 
is  admitted  by  general  acclamation,  as  well  as  by  com- 
petent critics,  and  numerous  have  been  the  attempts  to 
discover  the  secret  of  its  ever-growing  reputation. 
Scarcely  two  of  them  agree,  and  no  explanation  whatever 

*  Macmillan's  Magazine,  July,  1900. 


192         GILBERT  WHITE  AND  OTHERS 

offered  of  the  charm  which  invests  it  can  be  accepted  as 
in  itself  satisfactory.  If  we  grant  what  is  partially  true, 
that  it  was  the  first  book  of  its  kind  to  appear  in  this 
country,  and  therefore  had  no  rivals  to  encounter  before 
its  reputation  was  established,  we  find  that  alone  in- 
sufficient to  account  for  the  way  in  which  it  is  still 
welcomed  by  thousands  of  readers,  to  many  of  whom — 
and  this  especially  applies  to  its  American  admirers — 
scarcely  a  plant  or  an  animal  mentioned  in  it  is  familiar, 
or  even  known  but  by  name.  Goldsmith's  "  Animated 
Nature  "  was  begun  in  1769,  two  years  after  the  com- 
mencement of  White's  correspondence  with  Pennant 
and  in  the  very  year  in  which  White  first  wrote  to  Bar- 
rington.  That  book  appeared  in  1774,  when  the  corre- 
spondence was  all  but  concluded  and  the  monographs 
were  ready  for  the  Royal  Society.  One  author  could  not 
have  been  influenced  by  the  other.  Goldsmith's  work 
was  one  of  the  most  profitable  of  his  literary  under- 
takings, and  was  at  once  popular  beyond  anything  of  the 
kind  before  published ;  but  no  one  reads  it  now,  and, 
what  is  more,  no  one  could  conscientiously  edit  it  without 
having  to  add  notes  that  would  expose  the  author  to 
ridicule  on  one  point  after  another.  He  could  only 
translate  and  travesty  Buffon,  and  the  man  who  on  so 
many  subjects  "  wrote  like  an  angel "  could  not  touch 
the  works  of  Nature  without  deforming  them.  Yet  none 
can  deny  there  is  a  charm,  an  old-fashioned  fragrance 
even,  in  Goldsmith's  "  Animated  Nature,"  the  only  work 
of  that  age  with  which  White's  can  be  compared.  But 
taking  the  latter's  "  Selborne,"  of  the  hundreds  of  state- 
ments therein  recorded,  the  number  which  are  un- 
doubtedly mistaken  may  be  counted  almost  on  the 
fingers  of  one  hand.  The  gravest  is  perhaps  that  on  the 
formation  of  honeydew  (Letter  Ixiv.  to  Barrington) ;  but 
it  was  not  until  some  years  later  that  the  nature  of  that 
substance  was  discovered  in  this  country  by  Curtis 
(Trans.  Linn.  Soc.,  vi.  75-91),  and  was  not  made  known 
until  nearly  a  twelvemonth  after  its  discoverer's  death  ; 
while  we  have  editor  after  editor,  many  of  them 


GILBERT  WHITE'S  GREATNESS          193 

well-informed  or  otherwise  competent  judges,  citing  fresh 
proofs  of  White's  industry  and  accuracy.  That  he  was 
a  prince  among  observers,  nearly  always  observing  the 
right  thing  in  the  right  way,  is  a  very  great  merit ;  but 
not  a  few  others  have  been  as  industrious  and  as  accurate 
without  attaining  the  rank  assigned  to  him.  Good- 
natured  reviewers  are  apt  to  say  of  almost  any  new  book 
on  observational  natural  history  that  the  author  has 
studied  in  White's  school,  and  to  prophesy  the  success  of 
a  work  which  they  declare  has  been  written  on  the  model 
of  "  Selborne."  Such  an  author  has  frequently  the  gift 
of  writing  agreeably,  and  has  occasionally  been  a  fair 
naturalist,  though  too  often  there  is  a  tendency  to  observe 
the  wrong  thing  or  in  the  wrong  way ;  but  the  best  of 
these  men  does  not  come  near  White.  He  had  a  genius 
for  observing,  and  for  placing  before  us  in  a  few  words 
the  living  being  he  observed.  That,  in  addition  to  his 
excellence  in  this  respect,  he  was  not  only  all  that  was 
meant  by  the  old  phrase  "  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman," 
while  that  he  was  a  philosopher  of  no  mean  depth,  is  also 
evident ;  but  it  seems  as  though  the  combination  of  all 
these  qualities  would  not  necessarily  give  him  the  un- 
questioned superiority  over  all  other  writers  in  the  same 
field.  The  secret  of  the  charm  of  his  writings  must  be 
sought  elsewhere ;  but  it  has  been  sought  in  vain. 
Some  have  ascribed  it  to  his  way  of  identifying  himself 
in  feeling  with  the  animal  kingdom,  though  to  this  sym- 
pathy there  were  notable  exceptions.  Some,  like  Lowell, 
set  down  the  "  natural  magic  "  of  White  to  the  fact  that, 
"  open  the  book  where  you  will,  it  takes  you  out  of 
doors  ;  "  but  the  same  is  to  be  said  of  other  writers,  who 
yet  remain  comparatively  undistinguished.  It  may  be 
certainly  averred  that  his  style,  a  certain  stiffness 
characteristic  of  the  period  being  admitted,  is  eminently 
unaffected,  even  when  he  is  "  Didactic,"  as  he  more  than 
once  apologises  for  becoming,  and  the  same  simplicity  is 
as  observable  in  his  letters  to  members  of  his  family, 
which  could  never  have  been  penned  with  the  view  of 
publication,  and  have  never  been  retouched,  as  in  those 

o 


194         GILBERT   WHITE   AND  OTHERS 

which  he  addressed  to  his  stately  correspondents, 
Pennant  and  Barrington,  for  use  in  their  works.  Then, 
too,  there  is  the  complete  absence  of  self-importance 
or  self-consciousness.  The  observation  or  the  remark 
stands  on  its  own  merits,  and  gains  nothing  because  he 
happens  to  be  the  maker  of  it,  except  it  be  in  the  tinge  of 
humour  that  often  delicately  pervades  it.  The  beauties 
of  the  work,  apart  from  the  way  in  which  they  directly 
appeal  to  naturalists,  as  they  did  to  Darwin,  grow  upon 
the  reader  who  is  not  a  naturalist,  as  Lowell  testifies,  and 
the  more  they  are  studied  the  more  they  seem  to  defeat 
analysis. 

Mr.  Holt- White's  help  in  the  article  for  the  "  Dic- 
tionary of  National  Biography  "  was  amply  repaid  by 
Newton,  when  the  former  was  writing  his  "  Life  and 
Letters  of  Gilbert  White."  As  recorded  in  the  Preface, 
"  To  Professor  Newton,  my  obligations  are  many  and 
great.  In  addition  to  much  valuable  advice,  he  has  been 
good  enough  to  send  me  the  natural  history  notes  which 
appear  with  his  initials."  After  a  visit  which  Mr.  Holt- 
White  paid  to  him  at  Magdalene  at  that  time,  he  wrote  : — 

Needless  to  say  that  your  visit  gave  me  much 
pleasure,  and  I  hope  that  it  may  not  be  your  last.  I 
look  on  the  entertainment  of  you  as  a  duty  to  G.W., 
from  whom  I  have  derived  more  advantage  than  from 
any  other  naturalist,  and  it  would  take  a  long  while  to 
pay  off  that  debt. 

He  took  exception  to  the  description  in  the  Preface 
of  White  as  "  remaining  single  "  : — 

I  think  "  a  bachelor  "  or  "  unmarried  "  would  be 
better  than  "  single,"  which  seems  to  imply  singularity, 
and  I  being  in  that  condition  demur  to  such  an  impli- 
cation !  Some  people  seem  to  forget  that  we  are  all 
born  "  single,"  barring,  as  the  Irish  would  say,  twins 
of  both  sexes — so  that  it  is  the  natural  unsophisticated 


THE   "MOLLY"  LETTEES  195 

state  of  man.  For  the  rest,  there  is  really  nothing  to 
remark  upon.  It  appears  to  be  as  good  as  good  can  be. 
The  Shakespearean  quotation  is  very  happy,  and  alto- 
gether it  is  what  G.W.  and  his  contemporaries  would 
have  called  an  "  elegant  piece."  But  I  must  not  omit 
expressing  to  you  my  thanks  for  so  kindly  and  fully 
acknowledging  such  services  as  I  have  been  able  to  render 
to  you,  services  which  I  must  say  it  has  given  me  very 
great  pleasure  to  afford — if  only  in  regard  to  the  debt 
I  incurred  through  your  valuable  assistance,  when  I  was 
writing  the  article  for  the  "Dictionary  of  National 
Biography." 

It  was  not  only  on  matters  of  Natural  History  that 
his  advice  was  sought,  but  on  questions  also  of  the 
publication  or  otherwise  of  more  personal  letters  : — 

Now  I  come  to  the  "  Molly "  letters,  about  the 
advisability  of  printing  which  you  asked  my  opinion. 
I  have  read  them  attentively  and  am  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that,  owing  to  my  bias,  my  opinion  on  the 
subject  is  worth  nothing !  I  do  so  dread  the  notion 
that  many  persons,  not  at  all  adverse  critics,  might 
think  that  one  could  have  too  much  even  of  Gilbert 
White  !  I  think  before  printing  them  in  eoctenso  you 
ought  to  consult  some  one  else,  who  would  be  a  fairer 
judge  than  myself.  I  am  afraid  people  would  resent 
the  solicitude  with  which  the  writer  regularly  orders 
codfish  and  desires  his  brother  to  draw  the  interest  of 
the  Long  Annuities  !  Yet  in  most  of  the  letters  there 
is  a  playful  tone,  which  to  me  is  highly  diverting  and 
agreeable.  Extracts  might  certainly  be  printed  without 
any  doubt,  but  the  making  of  them  would  require  very 
careful  selection,  and  that  by  a  competent  man.  I 
wish  I  knew  one  to  recommend,  but  I  must  plainly  say 
that  I  don't.  If  you  should  find  a  competent  judge  to 
say  "  print  the  whole,"  I  should  be  only  too  glad,  but 
it  is  what  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  say — because  I 
know  myself  to  be  such  a  strong  partizan — whiter  than 
the  whitest  of  Whitists.  I  can't  put  it  more  concisely. 


196       GILBERT  WHITE  AND  OTHERS 

The  "  Molly  "  letters,  with  a  few  exceptions,  were 
included  in  the  "  Life,"  which  was  published  in  two 
volumes  in  1901. 

I  think  you  will  like  G.  White's  "  Life/'*  It  ought  to 
have  been,  and  might  perfectly  well  have  been,  got  into 
one  volume,  and  there  are  a  few  (very  few)  blemishes 
in  it.  People  ought  to  buy  it,  but  I  suppose  the  public 
which  takes  I  don't  know  how  many  thousand  copies  of 
an  "  Englishwoman's  Love-Letters  "  will  not  have  it. 
The  book  is  too  matter-of-fact  for  "  gush,"  and  as  to 
the  reviewers  they  know  nothing  of  the  "  inwardness  " 
of  "  Selborne,"  and  in  their  ignorance  make  absolute 
fools  of  themselves,  when  criticising  this  book.f 

Newton  had  little  fault  to  find  with  the  substance 
of  the  book,  but  the  covers  were  adorned  with  a  Swallow 
unlike  any  bird  known  to  naturalists,  which  drew  lamen- 
tations from  him : — 

The  green  binding  reminds  me  of  the  Willow  Wren 
and  is  therefore  very  appropriate,  but  why,  oh  why  did 
not  Mr.  Murray  get  somebody  who  knew  what  a  Swallow 
was  to  design  the  figure  on  the  back  ?  They  are  carica- 
tures of  that  blessed  bird,  as  terrible  to  behold  as  those  of 
G.W.  in  another  edition !  And  a  Swallow  is  such  a 
lovely  bird  ! 

And  later  on  : — 

If  the  Swallows  on  your  binding  were  strictly  con- 
ventional, I  should  not  mind  them.  The  Swallows  on  a 
plate  don't  spoil  my  dinner,  but  your  binders  have 
attempted  realistic  Swallows  and  have  disgracefully 
failed.  The  designer  (I  will  not  call  him  draughtsman 
even)  ought  to  have  a  dozen  or  two  thrust  down  his 
throat.  That  would  be  an  "  object  lesson  "  teaching 
him  what  a  bad  swallow  means. 

*  "The  Life  and  Letters  of  Gilbert  White."  By  Rashleigh  Holt- 
White.  Two  vols.,  London,  1901. 

t  Letter  to  Thomas  Southwell,  July  3,  1901. 


MULSO'S  LETTERS  197 

In  the  course  of  his  preparation  of  the  article  for 
the  "Dictionary  of  National  Biography"  Newton  had  the 
opportunity  of  reading  the  letters  to  Gilbert  White  of 
John  Mulso,  who  was  White's  intimate  friend  and  corre- 
spondent during  more  than  forty  years.  Unfortunately, 
Mulso  or  his  descendants  had  destroyed  Gilbert  White's 
letters  to  him,  but  his  own  letters  are  full  of  interesting 
observations  and  throw  much  light  on  the  life  and 
character  of  his  friend  They  are  now  in  the  possession 
of  a  collateral  descendant  of  Gilbert  White,  the  Earl  of 
Stamford,  whose  father,  the  late  Earl,  lent  them  to 
Newton. 

Magdalene  College, 

June  13,  1898. 

DEAR  LORD  STAMFORD, 

...  I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  to  you 
the  extreme  gratification  that  the  opportunity  of  examin- 
ing these  volumes  *  has  given  me.  Though  my  hopes 
had  been  high,  their  fulfilment  far  exceeded  any  antici- 
pation, and  it  is  very  long  since  anything  so  interesting 
has  passed  into  my  hands,  while  I  can  but  wonder  that 
these  papers  have  remained  so  long  unpublished.  I 
desire  to  offer  you  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  the 
pleasure  I  have  derived  from  the  reading  of  these  letters, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  wonderful  light  which  they  reflect 
upon  Gilbert  White's  life,  and  their  consequent  utility 
to  me  in  the  task  I  have  undertaken.  Though  I  cer- 
tainly had  not  hitherto  neglected  any  means  of  inform- 
ing myself  concerning  him,  I  feel  that  he  had  been  a 
man  comparatively  unknown  to  me.  I  read  through  all 
the  letters,  some  of  them  several  times,  and  there  are 
many  which  I  should  like  to  read  again.  I  earnestly 
hope  they  may  be  soon  printed,  and  just  as  they  stand, 
though  there  are  a  few  coarse  passages.  One  does  not 
leave  them  with  an  exalted  opinion  of  the  writer,  but 
there  is  nothing  to  affect  the  estimable  character  of  Gilbert 

*  "  Mulso's  Letters." 


198          GILBERT  WHITE  AND  OTHERS 

White  who,  it  is  evident,  not  unfrequently  must  have 
administered  a  reproof  to  his  correspondent,  and  that  is 
possibly  a  reason  why  his  own  letters  have  disappeared. 
Yours  very  faithfully, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

Lord  Stamford  and  Mr.  Holt-White  eventually 
decided  to  publish  Mulso's  letters,  and  Newton's  advice 
was  again  sought  as  to  what  should  or  should  not  be 
printed. 

When  the  book  appeared  in  the  following  spring,  it 
gave  Newton  profound  pleasure  to  find  that  the  volume 
was  dedicated  to  himself,  a  compliment  which  he 
acknowledged  in  the  following  letter. 

March  20, 1907. 

MY  DEAR  HOLT- WHITE, 

I  have  just  received  the  precious  volume  and 
was  congratulating  myself  on  its  neat  and  trim  appear- 
ance— thinking  how  easy  it  would  be  to  convey  the  like 
congratulations  to  you,  when  it  opened  of  its  own 
accord  immediately  after  the  title-page,  and  the  Dedica- 
tion was  in  full  view.  This  alters  the  case,  and  now  my 
duty  is  more  than  doubled.  It  is  most  kind  of  you  and 
your  noble  cousin  to  have  thought  of  me  in  this  con- 
nection—yet if  an  almost  unbounded  reverence  for  the 
character  and  especially  the  example  of  your  great- 
grand-uncle  gives  a  man  a  claim  to  that  distinction, 
then  your  selection  of  me  is  justified— for  I  doubt  whether 
any  one  has  ever  entertained  so  strong  a  feeling  towards 
Gilbert  White  as  I  have  from  my  very  boyhood. 

Be  assured  that  I  consider  this  one  of  the  prettiest 
compliments  that  have  ever  been  paid  to  me,  and  be- 
lieve me  with  the  sincerest  thanks, 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

It  may  truly  be  said  that  Gilbert  White  was  one  of 
the  very  last  interests  in  Newton's  life.  Only  a  few  days 


THOMAS  BEWICK  199 

before  his  death,  writing  to  a  correspondent  who  had 
asked  him  where  White  had  been  born,  he  replied  : — 

There  is  Gilbert  White's  own  authority  for  his  having 
been  born  at  Selborne  Vicarage.  In  one  of  his  poems 
he  has : — 

"  Nor  be  the  Parsonage  by  the  Muse  forgot, 
The  partial  bard  admires  his  native  spot." 

I  believe  I  was  the  first  to  point  this  out. 

So  far  as  is  known,  he  visited  Selborne  once  only, 
in  1874. 

Last  week  I  went  on  a  pilgrimage  with  A.  C.  Smith 
to  Selborne,  and  was  charmed  with  the  beauty  of  the 
place.  Unluckily,  old  Bell  was  not  at  home. 

It  is  worth  recording  that  he  possessed  Yarrell's  copy 
of  the  first  edition  of  "  Selborne,"  and  Gilbert  White's 
copy  of  Ray's  "  Pisces." 

Hardly  inferior  (in  Newton's  opinion)  to  Gilbert 
White  in  having  a  lasting  influence  on  British  Ornith- 
ology was  Thomas  Bewick,  whose  "  Land  Birds  "  ap- 
peared in  1797,  the  "  Water  Birds  "  in  1804. 

Now  there  is  really  a  chance  for  you,  the  long  ex- 
pected autobiography  of  Bewick  is  published.  Sit 
down  and  write  us  a  notice  of  it  for  the  Ibis ;  surely  you 
can  knock  off  sixteen  of  our  little  pages  on  a  subject 
which  must  interest  you  as  a  Northumbrian,  an  ornith- 
ologist, and  an  admirer  of  all  true  men  ?  I  should  think 
Bewick  has  done  more  to  instil  Ornithology  in  boys' 
hearts  than  "  any  other  man,"  not  excepting  Gilbert 
White,  for  there  is  many  a  lively  lad  who  has  been 
attracted  by  those  wonderful  wood-cuts,  which  at  once 
appealed  to  his  senses,  and  who  would  never  have  had 
the  patience  even  to  skim  over  "  Selborne."  You  are 
the  man  to  do  it,  you  live  on  the  spot,  have  talked  with 
dozens  of  people  who  knew  the  old  fellow  well,  and  must 
have  lots  to  say  about  him,  of  your  own  picking  up. 


200         GILBERT  WHITE  AND  OTHERS 

Pray  now,  set  to  work,  or  else  when  you  come  to  Cam- 
bridge look  out  for  squalls.  I  shall  most  assuredly  put 
every  local  member  of  the  B.O.U.  up  to  sending  you  to 
Coventry  or  Corinth,  I  mean  the  city  of  the  seceders, 
not  of  the  two  seas,  or  some  other  very  disagreeable 
place  if  you  do  not.* 

Of  the  older  naturalists  Newton  had  the  greatest 
reverence  for  Willughby  and  Ray,  of  whom  he  wrote 
("  Dictionary  of  Birds,"  p.  7)  :— 

The  foundation  of  scientific  Ornithology  was  laid 
by  the  joint  labours  of  Francis  Willughby  (born  1635, 
died  1672)  and  John  Ray  (born  1628,  died  1705),  for  it 
is  impossible  to  separate  their  share  of  work  in  Natural 
History  more  than  to  say  that,  while  the  former  more 
especially  devoted  himself  to  Zoology,  Botany  was  the 
favourite  pursuit  of  the  latter.  Together  they  studied, 
together  they  travelled,  and  together  they  collected. 
Willughby,  the  younger  of  the  two,  and  at  first  the 
other's  pupil,  seems  to  have  gradually  become  the  master, 
but  dying  before  the  promise  of  his  life  was  fulfilled,  his 
writings  were  given  to  the  world  by  his  friend  Ray,  who, 
adding  to  them  from  his  own  stores,  published  the 
"  Ornithologia  "  in  Latin  in  1676,  and  in  English  with 
many  emendations  in  1678. 

Writing  (April  24, 1906)  to  Mr.  T.  Whitaker,  who  was 
then  preparing  his  "  Birds  of  Nottinghamshire,"  Newton 
reminded  him  to  pay  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Willughby. 

There  is,  however,  a  much  greater  Nottinghamshire 
ornithologist  [than  Wolley]  of  whom  you  should  give 
some  account,  and  that  is  Francis  Willughby  of  Wollaton 
(born  1635,  died  1672),  to  whom  justice,  I  think,  has 
never  been  done,  nor  has  his  life  been  properly  written  ; 
for  he  was  so  overshadowed  by  his  friend  Ray,  who  was 
his  senior  by  a  few  years  only,  but  survived  him  and  saw 
to  the  publication  of  his  "  Birds  "  and  "  Fishes." 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  July  3,  1862. 


RAY,  WILLUGHBY,  GOULD  201 

.  .  .  Anyhow  in  your  book  you  must  not  neglect 
Willughby — the  earliest  ornithologist  in  England  after 
Turner. 

When  the  "  Willughby  Society  "  was  established  in 
1879,  Newton  with  Osbert  Salvin  and  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater 
formed  the  committee  of  selection.  The  object  of  the 
society  was  the  reprinting  of  rare  ornithological  works, 
and  in  return  for  an  annual  subscription  of  one  pound 
the  members  received  a  copy  of  each  of  the  reprints. 
The  first  to  be  produced  was  Tunstall's  "  Ornithologia 
Britannica  "  ;  this  was  followed  by  Sir  Andrew  Smith's 
paper  in  the  South  African  Journal,  Reports  of  his 
Exploring  Expedition,  and  other  rare  works.  Un- 
fortunately some  trouble  arose  between  Mr.  Tegetmeier, 
the  Director  of  the  Society,  and  a  lady  copyist,  with  the 
result  that  the  Society  came  to  an  untimely  end. 

Of  the  ornithologists  of  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  probably  the  most  widely  known  was  Mr.  J. 
Gould,  whose  "  Birds  of  Europe  "  and  "  Monograph  of 
the  Humming-birds  "  and  countless  other  volumes  were 
eagerly  bought.  The  books  were  popular  on  account 
of  the  coloured  illustrations,  which  were  better  than  any- 
thing of  the  kind  produced  up  to  that  time,  but  it  does 
not  appear  that  Gould  was  himself  a  very  serious 
ornithologist. 

By  the  way,  Gould  always  sends  me  his  "  Birds  of 
Great  Britain "  to  look  over  for  him,  and  the  utter 
ignorance  they  sometimes  betray  is  amazing.  He  has 
no  personal  knowledge  of  any  English  birds,  except 
those  found  between  Eton  and  Maidenhead,  and  about 
these  species  he  fancies  no  one  else  knows  anything. 
It  is  most  amusing  to  see  how  anxious  he  is  to  avoid 
committing  himself  about  Darwin's  theory.  Of  course, 
he  does  not  care  a  rap  whether  it  is  true  or  not — but  he 
is  dreadfully  afraid  that  by  prematurely  espousing  it 


202         GILBERT  WHITE  AND  OTHERS 

he  might  lose  some  subscribers,  though  he  acknowledged 
to  me  the  other  day  he  thought  it  would  be  generally 
adopted  before  long.* 

Another  very  popular  naturalist  of  a  rather  later 
period  than  Gould  was  Mr.  Frank  Buckland. 

I  am  afraid  I  know  of  no  one  who  could  help  you  in 
your  Trout  inquiries.  I  never  had  any  taste  for  fishing 
and  have  no  piscatorial  or  ichthyological  correspondents, 
though  I  fully  appreciate  the  interest  of  your  observa- 
tions. It  is  a  pity  that  Day  published  them  in  such  a 
place  as  Land  and  Water  and  gave  that  ignorant  fellow 
Frank  Buckland  the  opportunity  of  introducing  them. 
By  the  way,  I  see  from  Saturday's  No.  that  he  has  just 
become  aware  of  the  existence  of  Bacteria — which  he 
calls  "  brutes  !  "  f 

The  expression  quoted  in  the  letter  above  was  less 
than  fair,  for  however  little  of  a  scientific  man  Buckland 
may  have  been — and  that  was  owing  to  his  lack  of  a 
scientific  training — there  have  been  few  people  during 
the  last  fifty  years  who  have  done  more  than  he  did  to 
encourage  the  study  of  Natural  History  in  this  country. 
He  was  always  on  friendly  terms  with  Newton,  who 
wrote  of  him  afterwards  :  "...  Buckland,  for  whom 
personally  I  had  much  regard.  His  great  mistake  was 
that  he  believed  people  when  they  told  him  he  was  a 
naturalist,  while  he  was  wanting  in  every  essential  of  a 
naturalist,  except  zeal." 

Thomas  Edwards,  the  "  self-made "  naturalist  of 
Banff,  whose  life  was  written  by  Smiles,  corresponded 
frequently  in  the  'forties  and  'fifties  with  Newton, 
who  often  spoke  of  him  with  affection.  Mr.  Harvie- 
Brown  proposed  to  put  a  portrait  of  Edwards  with  those 
of  others  on  the  title-page  of  his  "  Fauna  of  the  Moray 
Basin." 

*  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  April  25,  1864. 
t  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  May  10,  1880. 


EDWARDS,  JEFFERIES  203 

Your  proposed  medallion  title-page  is  a  very  good 
idea,  and  I  would  submit  that  you  should  put  old  Thomas 
Edwards  among  those  you  may  please  to  honour.  I 
have  got  a  good  many  of  his  letters  written  to  me  in  the 
'fifties.  I  don't  know  whether  you  would  care  to 
have  them,  but  if  so  they  are  at  your  service,  and  I 
think  I  could  lay  hand  on  them  without  much  trouble. 

Smiles  made  such  a  ridiculous  mess  of  his  Memoir  of 
him,  that  I  should  be  glad  to  see  a  proper  notice  of  the 
old  man's  services  inserted,  such  an  one  as  I  am  sure 
you  would  write.  His  enthusiasm  led  him  into  several 
egregious  misstatements  (to  put  the  matter  mildly) 
which  it  is  hard  to  overlook  ;  nevertheless  the  man  was 
without  doubt  a  born  naturalist,  and  did  a  little  good  in 
the  bird  and  beast  way.  I  think  he  is  worthy  of  a  place 
alongside  of  St.  John  and  Gordon,  to  say  nothing  of 
Thornton.* 

Newton's  opinion  of  Richard  Jefferies,  whose  books 
achieved  a  considerable  popularity  at  one  time,  was  not 
a  favourable  one.  Considering  him  as  a  scientific  man, 
Newton  was  right,  for  Jefferies'  books  contained  many 
inaccuracies  and  no  original  observations.  The  novels 
did  not  add  greatly  to  his  reputation. 

You  must  go  elsewhere  for  details  of  Jefferies. 
Several  books  have  been  written  about  him.  He  was 
an  unhappy  man,  with  bad  health  and  a  genius  for 
"  word  painting,"  which  took  with  the  public.  He  tried 
to  write  novels,  but  they  were  invariably  scouted  ;  yet 
such  is  the  ignorance  of  people  in  regard  to  Natural 
History  that  his  books  about  animals  were  read  with 
rapture,  though  they  were  every  bit  as  bad  as  his  novels. 
The  greater  part  of  the  poor  wretch's  life  was  spent  in 
abject  misery,  as  he  was  too  proud  to  let  his  friends 
know  that  he  often  had  not  enough  to  eat ;  at  least  so 
I  have  heard  say.  I  believe  at  the  last  he  was  better  off, 
but  then  it  was  too  late.  I  regard  the  poor  man  with 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie- Brown,  February  11,  1892. 


204          GILBERT  WHITE  AND    OTHERS 

great  commiseration,  but  there  is  an  utterly  false  tone 
(as  it  seems  to  me)  in  all  his  writings.* 

Another  naturalist  of  the  same  period,  with  whom 
Newton  came  much  into  contact,  but  of  a  different 
quality  from  some  of  those  others  already  mentioned, 
was  Mr.  Henry  Seebohm,  who  had  made  a  considerable 
fortune  at  Sheffield,  and  late  in  life  devoted  his  energies 
to  Ornithology.  He  made  two  journeys  to  Siberia,  in 
1875  with  Mr.  Harvie-Brown,  and  in  1877  alone,  and 
published  two  volumes  describing  his  voyages  and  dis- 
coveries. Newton's  first  meeting  with  him  was  in  1877, 
when  he  went  to  Sheffield  to  see  Seebohm's  collection  of 
eggs. 

Early  in  December  I  took  train  to  Sheffield  and 
gratified  my  eyes  with  the  spoils  which  the  adventurous 
Seebohm  reaped  in  Siberia.  And  very  great  they  are 
for  an  Arctic  harvest,  interrupted  as  it  was  by  two  ship- 
wrecks in  the  river  Yenesei.  Each  of  these  disasters 
cost  him  a  week's  diversion  from  his  proper  pursuits, 
and  occurring,  as  they  did,  in  the  height  of  the  short 
summer,  they  seriously  crippled  his  operations.  On  the 
whole  he  thinks  himself  fortunate  in  saving  what  he  had 
got,  and  save  it  he  did,  every  egg-shell.  That  is  a 
wonderful  man,  and  it  is  a  pity  he  is  so  very  rough  in 
his  ways.  I  take  it  he  will  prove  himself  a  leader  now 
that  he  is  fairly  come  to  the  front.  At  the  Zool.  Soc. 
one  evening  he  described  his  expedition  in  a  way  better 
than  anything  I  have  ever  heard  there  before  ;  just  saying 
the  right  thing,  neither  too  much  nor  too  little,  and 
keeping  up  the  interest  of  his  audience  (a  good  one)  for 
a  whole  hour  most  admirably  and  without  the  slightest 
apparent  effort.  Huxley,  who  heard  him  somewhere 
else,  is  said  to  have  pronounced  him  a  born  lecturer  ; 
and  he  ought  to  know  the  necessary  qualifications  if 
any  one  does.f 

*  Letter  to  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-HamUton,  September  12,  1904. 
t  Letter  to  Lord  Lilford,  January  7,  1878. 


HENRY  SEEBOHM  205 

If  Seebohm  had  been  content  with  his  fine  record  as 
a  traveller  and  collector,  all  would  have  been  well,  but 
he  ventured  without  a  sufficient  equipment  into  the 
thorny  questions  of  classification,  and,  after  perpetrating 
some  rather  glaring  inaccuracies,  he  inevitably  fell  foul 
of  Newton. 

It  is  not  so  much  that  Seebohm  is  no  scholar,  but  it 
is  his  way  of  making  reckless  assertions  that  is  so  repre- 
hensible. You  may  remember  in  the  Ibis  for  July  last 
he  launched  out  into  a  tirade  against  people  in  general 
for  having  neglected  Pallas's  "  Zoographia,"  concerning 
which  he  propounded  a  long  story  absolutely  without 
truth  and  (as  I  cannot  but  believe)  wholly  of  his  own 
invention.  When  I  told  him,  as  I  did  privately,  how 
the  matter  stood,  and  lent  him  Von  Baer's  report  (of 
which  he  had  never  heard),  he  made  a  most  shuffling 
attempt  in  the  next  number  to  get  out  of  the  scrape. 
It  is  no  part  of  my  business  to  set  other  people  right  or 
show  up  their  "  blunders  "  (his  own  favourite  word),  so 
long  as  they  keep  clear  of  me ;  and  as  this  matter  did 
not  in  any  way  concern  me,  I  let  him  alone.  When, 
however,  it  came  to  a  fresh  attack  on  me  based  on  a 
mare's  nest  discovery,  I  thought  it  time  to  notice  it.* 

He  is  a  man  who,  having  made  a  lot  of  money  at 
Sheffield,  has  retired  from  business,  and  taken  up 
Ornithology.  He  has  great  force  of  character  and  is  a 
fluent  speaker,  qualities  which  have  helped  him  in  the 
world  and  dispose  some  people  to  think  him  a  great  man. 
But  his  writings  show  him  not  to  be  clear-headed  or 
logical.  I  knew  him  to  be  shallow  and  ignorant  as 
regards  Ornithological  literature,  but  until  last  week  I 
had  given  him  credit  for  knowing  birds  when  he  saw 
them.  To  my  great  surprise  my  eyes  were  opened.  I 
was  going  to  London,  and,  just  before  starting,  there 
arrived  a  small  box  of  bird  skins  from  Portugal  which 
the  sender  asked  me  to  determine  for  him.  As  I  knew 

*  Letter  to  Col.  H.  W.  Feilden,  March  16,  1883. 


206         GILBERT  WHITE  AND  OTHERS 

the  species  were  all  Sylmidcs,  in  which  family,  as  you 
are  aware,  Mr.  Seebohm  has  attained  great  critical 
reputation,  I  thought  I  would  take  them  with  me  to 
town,  open  the  box  there  and  compare  them  with  his 
series,  which  I  had  not  seen  for  several  years.  To  my 
infinite  amazement  I  found  that  he  could  not  recognise 
some  of  our  commonest  English  birds.  He  insisted  on 
a  common  Sedge- Warbler  being  a  Reed- Wren,  and 
notwithstanding  the  wonderful  rules  he  has  laid  down 
for  infallibly  distinguishing  the  Willow- Wren  and  the 
ChifEchaff  he  was  no  better  than  anybody  else  in  deter- 
mining them,  when  it  came  to  actual  specimens.* 

In  spite  of  the  hard  things  which  Newton  wrote  of 
Seebohm,, they  continued  perfectly  friendly  until  the 
death  of  the  latter  in  1895. 

*  Letter  to  Rev.  A.  C.  Smith,  November  30,  1883. 


CHAPTER  XII 

METHODS  OF  WORK 

IT  will  have  become  apparent  to  the  reader  who  has 
followed  these  pages  so  far  that  Newton  was  an  earnest 
seeker  after  the  truth  in  all  things,  and,  so  far  as  it  was 
humanly  possible,  he  was  never  satisfied  with  anything 
less  than  the  completest  accuracy.  From  quite  early 
days  he  was  constantly  receiving  eggs  from  people, 
who  believed,  in  their  enthusiasm,  that  they  had 
discovered  some  rarity,  and  wished  for  Newton's  con- 
firmation. 

For  the  last  thirteen  days  I  have  been  wrapped  in 
contemplation  (and  a  great-coat)  with  respect  to  the  egg 
you  have  entrusted  to  my  care.  "  Who  steals  my  purse," 
etc.  (vide  Shakespeare).  Morris  cracked  the  shell  of  it, 
what  if  I  totally  demolish  its  reputation  and  good  name  ? 
I  am  more  than  ever  disposed  to  agree  with  the  anony- 
mous reviewer  in  the  Ibis.  The  office  of  Devil's  Advo- 
cate is  a  particularly  ungracious  one.  I  know  perfectly 
well  that  it  is  the  habit  of  collectors  to  put  their  implicit 
confidence  in  evidence  on  which  they  would  refuse  to 
hang  the  veriest  cur  which  ever  merited  the  decoration 
of  the  tin  pot. 

After  a  really  serious  and  steady  course  of  observa- 
tion I  have  deliberately  come  to  the  conclusion  that  in 
your  egg  marked  Nucifraga  caryocatactes  I  can  detect  no 
character  which  may  not  be  found  in  a  Magpie's.  At 
the  same  time  I  am  fain  to  confess,  as  I  said  in  the  hasty 
scrawl  when  I  last  wrote,  that  I  have  not  got  a  Magpie's 
egg  with  which  to  match  your  pattern,  In  size  and 
207 


208  METHODS  OF  WORK 

shape,  and  in  colour  of  ground  and  of  markings,  and  in 
the  forms  of  these  markings  I  can  equal  it  in  unquestion- 
able Magpie's,  and  this  from  by  no  means  a  large  series. 
Had  I  a  good  series,  say  500  specimens,  I  might  possibly 
find  its  exact  double.  Not  that  this  is  saying  much. 
But  I  would  tell  you  how  your  argument  differs  from 
that  of  Wolley's  in  regard  to  the  Smew's  eggs.  He  did 
not  rest  satisfied  with  the  story  of  the  people  concerned, 
or  even  with  the  appearance  of  a  stuffed  Smew's  skin 
with  "  hatching  spots  "  under  her  wings,  the  only  Smew 
he  had  ever  seen  in  Lapland,  or  with  the  eggs  before  him 
corresponding  with  what  he  had  previously  ascertained 
from  a  really  trustworthy  and  tried  man  to  be  their  true 
appearance.  With  all  this,  and  even  with  the  general 
dissimilarity  between  the  supposed  "  Unilo's  "  eggs  and 
the  ordinary  form  of  Wigeon's,  he  was  not  satisfied  ;  not 
until  he  had  discovered  a  minute  but  constant  difference 
which  held  on  one  side  with  his  three  Unilo's  eggs  and 
on  the  other  with  his  three  hundred  Wigeon's,  did  he 
allow  himself  to  believe  that  he  really  possessed 
genuine  Smew's  eggs.  It  was  this  one  point  of  evidence 
of  a  positive  nature,  and  about  which  there  could  be  no 
mistake  even  with  closed  eyes,  supervening  on  all  the 
presumptive  testimony  which  makes  the  case  of  the 
Smew  one  so  excellently  proved. 

Now  I  really  think  in  the  case  of  your  Nutcracker's 
it  is  by  no  means  a  statement  unfavourable  to  your  view, 
to  say  that  as  far  as  our  knowledge  goes  there  is  nothing 
in  the  appearance  of  the  egg  to  afford  any  evidence 
against  the  Nucifragine  theory  ;  but  I  do  believe  that 
the  fairest  statement  would  be  to  put  it  that  there  is  no 
perceptible  character  in  the  egg  which  is  not  also  possessed 
by  many  Magpie's.* 

For  many  years  I  have  been  trying  to  impress  upon 
people  the  necessity  of  identifying  the  eggs  they  take  at 
the  only  time  and  under  almost  the  only  conditions  which 
render  identification  certain.  If  they  will  not  do  this 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  April  25,  1860. 


IDENTIFYING  EGGS  209 

they  have  no  right  to  expect  that  others  will  be  at  the 
trouble  of  making  an  examination  which  seldom  leads 
to  a  satisfactory  result,  and  is  therefore  generally  but  a 
waste  of  time.  In  ordinary  circumstances  it  surely  may 
be  looked  for  that  a  man  when  he  has  found  a  suspicious 
nest  should  lay  himself  out  to  see  the  owner,  and  if  he 
cannot  do  that  satisfactorily  he  should  refrain  from 
taking  the  eggs.  It  is  notorious  that  this  is  absolutely 
necessary  in  the  case  of  Ducks'  nests,  and  the  subsequent 
examination  of  the  down  is  a  very  poor  substitute  for 
the  evidence  that  the  finders  may  in  most  cases  with  a 
moderate  amount  of  prudence  obtain  on  the  spot.  The 
cases  when  this  cannot  possibly  be  done  are  compara- 
tively rare.* 

In  1906  two  young  ornithologists  found  the  Scaup 
Duck  breeding  in  the  Hebrides  and  presented  Newton 
with  eggs  for  the  Cambridge  Museum  He  wished  to 
include  a  record  of  the  find  in  the  "  Ootheca  Wolleyana," 
but  in  spite  of  the  most  careful  observations  of  the  bird 
made  by  the  finders  of  the  nest,  he  was  unwilling  to  admit 
the  authenticity  of  the  eggs  without  a  further  identifica- 
tion of  the  down  : — 

Hurrah  !  Victoria  ! !  Hallelujah  ! ! !  Banzai ! ! ! ! 
Hooroosh  !  !  !  !  !  I  must  express  my  exultation  in 
many  languages. 

Yesterday  I  placed  in  Gadow's  hands  six  glass-topped 
boxes  containing  down  of  (1)  Eider-Duck ;  (2  and  3), 
Black  and  Velvet  Scoter ;  (4)  Dun-Bird ;  (5)  Tufted 
Duck,  and  (6)  Kinnear's  Hebrides  nest  of  11/6/06. 
To-day  Gadow  brought  me  a  lock  or  "  spray  "  of  each 
between  two  slips  of  glass,  and  I  waited  with  all  the 
patience  I  could  muster  for  the  verdict.  The  Hebrides' 
down  would  not  match  any  of  the  foregoing.  Then,  for 
the  first  time,  I  produced  your  little  packet  of  Scaup's 
down  from  Sutherland  and  he  put  a  lock  of  it  between 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  December  2,  1880. 


210  METHODS  OF  WORK 

two  other  glass  slips,  immediately  exclaiming  "  That  is 
the  same  as  the  Hebrides  specimen  !  "  Can  anything 
be  better  ?  You  will  observe  that  this  investigation  (if 
so  it  may  be  called)  was  carried  on  with  the  utmost 
fairness.  All  he  knew  was  that  1  wanted,  if  possible, 
to  determine  the  "  unknown  quantity,"  i.e.  the  Hebrides 
down.  I  was  careful  not  to  give  the  slightest  indication 
of  what  I  should  like  the  result  to  be,  and  yet  you  see 
it  has  come  out  exactly  as  I  should  like  it  to  be,  and  all 
to  the  credit  of  Kinnear,  Bahr  and  Co.  May  the  angels 
take  charge  of  them  and  their  shadow  never  grow  less. 
I  am  so  glad  on  their  account. 

You  can't  realize  how  this  business  has  been  afflicting 
me,  for  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  omit  Kinnear's  eggs 
from  the  "  O.W."  unless  the  down  examination  were 
clearly  in  favour  of  their  being  Scaup,  and  I  know  what 
a  serious  blow  it  would  be  to  him  if  I  did  so. 

Gadow,  though  he  has  no  doubt  on  the  mattter,  admits 
that  the  differences  between  these  downs  are  to  a  great 
extent  beyond  description ;  but  curiously  enough  the 
Scaup's  is  distinctly  darker  (almost  black  with  a  whitish 
centre,  as  they  all  have)  than  Tufted  Ducks'  (which  is 
ashy-brown)  or  any  of  the  others.  Anas  nyroca,  which 
we  afterwards  tried,  comes  very  near  it ;  but  of  course 
that  is  out  of  the  question. 

In  giving  all  these  different  downs  to  Gadow  to  try, 
my  object  was,  of  course,  not  to  mislead  him,  but  to 
train  his  eye  to  differences  which  at  first  sight  are  hardly 
apparent,  and  no  doubt  it  is  only  a  trained  eye  that  can 
detect  these  almost  minute  differences.  He  was  positive 
about  the  Hebrides  down  being  different  to  any  of  the 
others,  knowing  nothing  more  about  it  than  that  I 
wanted  it  determined  if  possible  ;  nor  did  he  know  when 
I  handed  him  the  precious  lock  of  Scaup's  from  the  little 
bit  you  sent  me  that  I  expected  or  thought  it  possible 
that  they  should  be  the  same. 

Afterwards  we  put  them  all  under  a  strong  power 
(microscope),  but  that  did  not  help  us  much.  It  chiefly 
showed  that  the  old  downs  become  brittle  and  lose  the 


THE   IDENTIFIED  DUCK  211 

abortive  booklets ;   but  the  structure  seems  to  be  much 
the  same  in  all.* 

He  often  quoted  his  old  friend  Hudlestone,  who 
"  used  to  declare  that  an  identified  duck's  was  the  most 
valuable  of  eggs — in  consequence  of  which  he  got  the 
nickname  of  '  The  Identified  Duck  '  (for  we  valuedHiim) 
— and  there  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  it." 

When  he  was  collecting  materials  for  his  "  Bustard 
in  Britain  "  (a  book  that  never  saw  the  light),  any  refer- 
ence to  the  bird  in  however  obscure  a  book  was  traced, 
if  possible,  to  its  source  and  its  accuracy  or  otherwise 
tested. 

I  have  lately  been  much  interested  by  corroborating 
in  a  minute  point  the  story  of  an  old  man,  one  Chafin, 
who  in  1818,  being  then  about  eighty-four  years  of  age, 
published  a  book  on  Cranbourn  Chase,  wherein  he  says 
that  in  November,  1751,  he  saw  and  shot  at  near  Andover 
25  Bustards,  and  winds  up  by  saying  "  In  two  or  three 
days  after  I  set  off  for  Cambridge  "  (to  account  for  his 
not  renewing  his  attempt  on  their  lives).  A  reference 
to  the  Residence  book  of  Emmanuel  College,  at  which 
Chafin  was  then  an  undergraduate,  shows  that  he  returned 
on  the  4th  Nov.  1751,  so  that  his  encounter  with  the 
Bustards  would  have  been  on  the  1st  or  2nd  of  that 
month  and  year  !  f 

Questions  of  all  kinds  more  or  less  connected  with 
Natural  History  were  constantly  sent  to  him,  such  as 
the  death-song  of  the  Swan,  the  winter  transformation 
of  the  Cuckoo,  the  hibernation  of  Swallows,  and  so  on. 
One  of  these  hardy  annuals  was  the  Great  Black  Wood- 
pecker, which  was  from  time  to  time  reported  as  having 
been  seen  in  some  part  or  other  of  Britain,  but  never  to 
Newton's  satisfaction. 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  October  7,  1906. 
t  Letter  to  Col.  H.  W.  Feilden,  December  8,  1884 


212  METHODS  OF  WORK 

Picus  martins  seems  determined  to  be  the  Sea  Serpent 
of  British  ornithologists  !  He  is  always  careful  to  keep 
out  of  the  way  of  any  observer  of  experience,  and  I  think 
that  until  he  does  reveal  himself  to  some  one  who  is  able 
to  kill  him  or  knows  him  well  by  sight  it  is  best  not  to 
think  too  much  of  his  supposed  apparitions.* 

I  read  in  some  paper  of  the  Black  Woodpecker,  and 
a  particularly  lame  story  I  thought  it.  I  don't  believe 
that  Lilford  ever  turned  out  any  birds  of  this  species, 
for  he,  if  any  one,  well  knew  it  needs  fir  woods  to  live  in, 
and  there  are  none  in  his  neighbourhood.  Beside  that 
I  think  he  never  had  any  number  in  his  possession  (I 
remember  one).  The  tendency  to  construct  myths  is 
something  wonderful !  Look  how  many  have  grown  up 
about  the  Gare-fowl,  and  many  more  there  will  be.  It 
would  never  surprise  me  to  read  that  he  had  the  bird — 
perhaps  half  a  dozen  birds — alive  on  one  of  his  ponds  at 
Lilford !  t 

On  another  occasion  a  celebrated  literary  personage 
proclaimed  his  belief,  accompanied  by  second-hand 
evidence,  in  the  well-worn  legend  of  the  mother  Viper 
swallowing  her  young. 

]Mj>.  _ —  —  for  aught  I  know  may  be  another 
Vesalius,  John  Hunter,  or  Von  Baer ;  but  it  is  my  mis- 
fortune not  to  have  heard  of  him  before,  so  far  as  I 
remember.  There  are  some  subjects  that  I  never  discuss, 
such  as  Transubstantiation,  Evolution,  Free  Trade,  and 
the  Hibernation  of  Swallows.  This  old,  old  story  belongs 
to  the  same  category.  I  have  made  up  my  mind  on 
each  and  all  of  them,  and  in  respect  of  them  when  any- 
body smites  me  on  the  one  cheek,  I  hold  my  tongue,  if 
I  do  not  quite  fulfil  the  Christian  precept  of  turning  to 
him  the  other  also.  Some  years  ago  I  most  unintention- 
ally got  myself  into  a  mess  along  of  some  Manx  Cats, 
and  came  in  for  a  great  amount  of  abuse.  I  at  once  let 
those  interesting  animals  alone,  and,  as  I  felt  none  the 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  December  1,  1873. 
t  Letter  to  T.  Southwell,  December  22,  1902. 


YAKRELL'S  "BRITISH  BIRDS"          213 

worse  since  from  doing  so,  I  can  only  recommend  your 
following  the  example  in  respect  to  the  Vipers.  This  is 
really  all  I  have  to  say  on  the  subject ;  when  some  one 
is  able  to  show  by  what  means  the  process  of  digestion 
in  the  mother- vipers  is  arrested,  it  may  be  worth  talking 
about,  otherwise  we  might  as  well  attempt  to  argue  with 
an  ordinary  Chinaman,  who  will  maintain  that  an  eclipse 
is  caused  by  the  Great  Dragon  attacking  the  sun  or  the 
moon  (as  the  case  may  be)  and  swallowing  the  whole  or 
part  of  those  bodies.  But  if  you  don't  like  lying  down 
and  being  kicked,  at  least  do  not  pull  me  (for  Heaven's 
sake)  into  the  controversy.  I  think  you  will  find  letting 
it  drop  the  cheapest  in  the  end,  for  there  is  not  a  chance 
of  your  convincing  your  opponent ;  and  if  there  were, 
you  may  depend  upon  it  he  is  not  worth  convincing.* 

It  must  be  admitted  that  in  the  search  for  truth, 
and  in  the  avoidance  of  inaccuracies,  caution  may  be 
carried  beyond  the  bounds  of  reason.  This  is  especially 
so  in  a  subject  like  the  study  of  the  birds  of  Great  Britain, 
where  the  increasing  number  of  accurate  observers  is 
constantly  adding  to  our  local  knowledge.  In  1871 
Newton  began  the  editing  of  the  fourth  edition  of 
Yarrell's  "  History  of  British  Birds,"  the  standard  work 
on  the  subject.  There  was  an  agreement  made  with 
Mr.  Van  Voorst,  the  publisher,  to  the  effect  that  the 
whole  book  should  be  completed  and  published  not  later 
than  the  year  1885.  By  the  end  of  1879  only  a  quarter 
of  the  book  had  been  produced. 

I  only  hope  Part  V.  will  not  give  me  so  much  trouble. 
I  have  brought  between  two  hundred  and  three  hundred 
books  here  to  enable  me  to  get  on  with  it,  but  I  cannot 
say  as  yet  that  I  have  seriously  begun,  though  much  of 
the  preliminary  work  is  done.  I  have  also  brought  a 
large  number  of  skins. 

By  the  beginning  of  1882,  when  more  than  ten  of  the 

*  Letter  to  T.  Southwell,  May  13,  1891. 


214  METHODS  OF  WORK 

fourteen  years  had  elapsed,  and  only  a  half  of  the  book 
was  ready,  Mr.  Van  Voorst  quite  naturally  began  to  get 
a  little  bit  restive,  and  said  that  the  copyright  of  "  Yar- 
rell "  would  be  out  before  long,  and  that  at  the  rate  of 
one  part  in  two  years  no  one  of  his  generation  would  ever 
live  to  see  the  completion  of  the  work.  Newton  con- 
tended that  he  had  never  made  any  agreement  as  to  the 
date  of  issue,  etc.,  that  his  system  of  editing  required  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  thousands  of  books  and 
obscure  publications,  and  that  he  could  not  do  justice 
to  the  subject  if  he  hastened  the  publication  of  the  parts. 
Mr.  Van  Voorst  threatened  legal  proceedings,  and  event- 
ually an  arrangement  was  made  to  the  effect  that  Mr. 
Howard  Saunders  should  edit  the  third  and  fourth 
volumes  of  the  book.  The  decision  was  welcomed  by 
the  long-suffering  subscribers,  but  it  was  a  bitter  blow 
to  Newton,  who  wrote  : — 

This  is  a  terrible  wrench.  For  more  than  twenty- 
two  years  the  preparation  of  "  Yarrell "  has  been  one 
of  the  main  objects  of  my  life,  and  I  can  safely  say  that 
no  man  ever  devoted  himself  more  faithfully  to  a  task. 
On  the  other  hand,  I  am  now  free  from  bonds  that  have 
held  me  in  slavery  (though  you  know  the  work  has 
always  been  fascinating)  for  ten  years  and  more.* 

To  a  man  endowed  with  such  a  highly  developed 
faculty  of  sceptical  criticism,  as  the  above-quoted  letters 
show  was  the  case  of  Newton,  it  might  be  expected  that 
the  quickly  changing  schemes  of  nomenclature  and 
classification  would  cause,  at  the  least,  some  searchings 
of  heart.  It  must  therefore  be  recorded  that,  so  far  as 
questions  of  classification  were  concerned,  he  always 
kept  an  open  mind  and  was  ever  ready  to  consider  new 
ideas. 

With  regard  to  a  systematic  arrangement  of  birds,  I 

*  Letter  to  A.  C.  Smith,  May  23,  1882. 


CLASSIFICATION  215 

am  much  mistaken  if  we  are  not  on  the  verge  of  the 
adoption  of  changes  which  a  short  time  ago  would  have 
astonished  the  most  learned  ornithologists,  and  that  in 
a  year  or  two  all  the  old  "  orders  "  will  be  entirely 
broken  up  and  new  ones  constructed.  Prof.  Huxley, 
Mr.  Sclater,  and  I,  working  each  from  different  sides, 
have  come  to  something  very  like  the  same  results,  and 
I  must  confess  I  think  our  results  are  likely  to  be  lasting 
ones.  I  own,  therefore,  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  see 
our  University  pledged  to  maintain  a  systematic  arrange- 
ment which,  unless  I  read  the  signs  of  the  times  very 
wrongly,  is  about  to  be  set  aside  for  ever.* 

It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  he  was  always  waiting 
for  the  true  scheme  of  classification,  and  he  never  adopted 
one  or  publicly  formulated  one  of  his  own  so  long  as  he 
lived. 

I  think  a  fairly  satisfactory  arrangement  (all  things 
considered)  of  British  birds  might  be  made — beginning 
with  Corvidce.  You  may  go  to  Buntings,  Finches,  and 
the  Larks.  Then  comes  a  break  and  you  must  start 
afresh  with  (say)  Parities  (including  Nuthatch  and  Tree- 
Creeper)  and  so  to  Sylviidce,Turdidce,Laniidce  (-\-Ampelis) 
and  finishing  with  the  Swallows,  which  so  far  as  I  can 
see  form  the  only  family  of  Passeres  about  the  boundaries 
of  which  one  can  be  sure.  I  believe  I  sent  W.  Eagle- 
Clarke  a  tentative  list  some  years  ago,  of  which  he  made 
use  in  the  Edinburgh  Museum,  and  I  doubt  whether  I 
could  improve  upon  it  now — for  one  is  no  nearer  the 
pedigree  of  British  birds  than  one  was  then.f 

In  questions  of  nomenclature  it  must  be  admitted 
that  Newton  was  ultra-conservative.  He  founded  his 
faith  on  the  Twelfth  Edition  of  the  "  Systema  Naturae  " 
of  Linnaeus,  and  he  strongly  resented  any  attempts  to 
upset  the  old  order. 

*  Letter  to  Mrs.  Strickland,  February  12,  1867. 
t  Letter  to  William  Evans,  November  20,  1898. 


216  METHODS  OF  WOEK 

What  you  call  the  Maries  martes  "  difficulty  "  is  no 
difficulty  whatever  to  me.  I  follow  the  usage  of  a  cen- 
tury or  more,  and  when  I  find  it  expedient  to  adopt  a 
specific  form  as  generic  I  take  the  next  oldest  specific 
name,  and  there  is  sure  to  be  one  at  hand.  This  was  the 
invariable  practice  till  a  few  years  ago  when  these 
foolish  people  started  on  "  principles  "  which  were  not 
only  new,  but  such  as  no  man  of  sense  or  education 
would  take  up.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  Scomber 
scomber  and  one  or  two  similar  cases,  sometimes  cited 
in  defence  of  the  new  theory,  were  probably  due  to  care- 
lessness, or  want  of  supervision.  Certain  it  is  that  in 
Linnaeus'  own  copy  of  the  12th  Edition  of  the  "  Syst. 
Nat."  which  you  may  see  in  the  library  of  the  Linn. 
Soc.  he  has  crossed  out  scomber  as  a  specific  name,  and 
had  his  intended  13th  Edition  ever  appeared  it  would 
doubtless  have  been  corrected. 

It  is  a  curious  thing  that  the  more  ignorant  and  un- 
educated a  man  is  the  more  he  tries  to  upset  all  estab- 
lished scientific  nomenclature  ;  but  it  has  happened 
.  that  a  few  educated  men  have  (from  vanity  ?)  done 
some  mischief  in  the  same  direction,  and  they  are  greedily 
followed  by  the  unlearned,  who  fancy  themselves  wiser 
than  all  the  rest  of  the  world.* 

Certainly  "  comparative  "  names  are  objectionable, 
except  the  time-honoured  major  and  minor.  One 
objection  is  (and  it  applies  even  to  these  two  words) 
that  when  one  is  bestowed,  another  species  is  so  apt 
to  turn  up  which  renders  it  inapplicable.  I  think 
nothing  is  more  abominable  than  naming  animals  after 
men  or  women,  and  of  late  the  practice  (which  shows 
that  the  nomenclator  is  ignorant  or  idle,  perhaps  both) 
has  been  so  followed  that  it  is  almost  an  insult  for  any 
person  to  be  so  "  commemorated." 

As  to  generic  names,  it  has  been  reduced  to  an 
absurdity.  What  do  you  think  of  Thonarsitorson  as 
the  generic  name  of  a  dove,  given  by  Bonaparte  in  his 

*  Letter  to  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  June  30,  1904. 


NOMENCLATURE  217 

later  and  semi-insane  condition  ?  and  according  to 
Reichenbach  the  species  stands  as  Thonarsitorson  dupetit- 
thonarsei  !  (see  Cat.  B.  Br.  Mus.,  xxi.  p.  90).  I  would 
sooner  be  a  Scomber  scomber.  One  of  the  most  beautiful 
birds  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  bears  the  joint  names  of 
two  of  the  biggest  rascals  that  ever  landed  upon  them.* 

The  practice  of  putting  a  small  initial  letter  to  a 
specific  name  originated,  it  seems,  with  Strickland,  and 
for  a  long  while  indicated  that  whoever  followed  the 
practice  accepted  (at  least  in  spirit)  the  British  Association 
Rules  for  Nomenclature.  Linnaeus  himself  never  called 
any  animal  (but  only  plants)  after  a  man  or  woman,  and 
his  practice  was  to  write  a  substantive  with  a  capital 
letter  and  an  adjective  with  a  small  one.  A  great  many 
people  failed  to  see  the  difference  and  so  confusion 
arose,  f 

With  the  comparatively  recent  practice  of  describing 
sub-species  and  the  introduction  of  trinomials,  Newton 
could  never  bring  himself  to  agree.  Doubtless  the 
enthusiasm  of  some  of  the  modern  naturalists  outran 
their  discretion,  but  it  is  impossible  for  the  working 
zoologist  to  do  without  the  use  of  trinomials  altogether, 
and  one  cannot  suppose  that  in  the  course  of  time 
Newton  would  not  have  seen  the  necessity  himself. 

Finsch  wrote  to  tell  me  of  Hartert  having  made  some 
thirty  or  more  subspecies  of  Alauda  cristata,  and  now  I 
hear  of  nine  of  Loxia  curvirostra. 

If  I  had  not  so  much  on  my  hands  I  think  I  should 
do  what  might  save  future  ornithologists  a  good  deal  of 
trouble.  You  know  that  England  and  Wales  have  fifty- 
two  counties  between  them  ;  two  of  them,  Rutland  and 
Middlesex,  are  ornithologically  speaking  of  small  account 
and  may  be  safely  neglected,  though  the  County  Council 
of  Middlesex  thinks  not  a  little  of  its  capabilities  and 

*  Letter  to  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  October  12,  1898. 
t  Letter  to  William  Evans,  November  21,  1898. 


218  METHODS  OF  WORK 

sternly  prohibits  the  taking  of  Ospreys',  Bearded  Tit- 
mouse's, and  various  eggs  within  its  limits.  Well,  then, 
you  have  in  South  Britain  fifty  counties — for  I  don't 
propose  to  deal  with  N.B.,  where  the  more  philosophical 
boundaries  of  watersheds  have  been  successfully  intro- 
duced— and  I  propose  to  take  some  common  bird  such 
as  Fringilla  ccelebs  or  Emberiza  citrinella,  or  both,  and 
divide  each  into  fifty  sub-species ;  thus  :  E.  citrinella 
norihumbriensis  ;  E.  citrinella  dunelmensis  ;  E.  citrinella 
eboracensis,  lincolniensis,  and  so  forth,  as  far  as  cornu- 
biensis,  and  then  back  again  through  Wales  and  the 
west  coast,  taking  the  Midlands  afterwards.  There  will 
be  the  names  on  the  asset  side  of  my  account  and  I  shall 
not  trouble  myself  about  finding  out  the  differences  of 
all  these  sub-species,  I  may  safely  leave  details  of  that 
kind  to  those  whom  it  may  sub-specially  concern. 

Now  will  you  give  me  room  for  a  paper  of  this  kind 
in  your  "  Annals  "  ?  If  so,  I  recommend  you  to  print 
twice  as  many  copies  of  that  particular  number  as  usual, 
for  I  prophesy  an  enormous  run  upon  it. 

All  this  new-fashioned  stuff  and  nonsense  about 
trinomials  and  nomenclature  generally  is  begotten  by 
pride  (or  self-conceit)  upon  illiteracy,  and  a  very  pretty 
progeny  is  the  consequence  !  Hartlaub  wrote  to  that 
effect  forty  years  .ago,  but  he  was  unheeded  ;  now  you 

have  X the  greatest  sinner  of  all  on  this  side  of  the 

Atlantic.  He  has  been  attacked  by  men  who  only  half 
understand  their  business,  so  he  has  been  able  to  score 
off  them.  Of  course,  that  has  made  him  worse.  His 
ingenuity  I  admit,  but  his  deficiency  in  common  sense  is 
obvious.* 

I  am  sure  that  the  fewer  new  words  a  scientific  author 
makes,  the  better  chance  he  has  of  obtaining  readers, 
even  at  the  expense  every  now  and  then  of  a  circum- 
locution. 

In  like  manner  I  can't  see  why  people  can't  recognise 
the  existence  of  breeds  or  local  races  without  calling 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  July  20,  1904. 


TRINOMIALS  219 

them  "  sub-species  "  and  giving  each  a  special  name. 
Again,  too,  if  sub-species  why  not  sub-sub-species,  any 
number  of  subs,  in  fact  ? 

I  suppose  you  are  committed  to  use  "  Vole,"  but  I 
hope  you  will  give  due  prominence  to  the  fact  that  it  is 
only  the  Orkneyan  way  of  pronouncing  and  spelling  what 
in  most  parts  of  England  is  called  Fell,  and  comes  from 
the  Old  Norsk  f  j  611— modern  f  j eld.  Its  first  use  is  "  Vole- 
Maus,"  i.e.  Fell-Mouse, x  and  in  England  the  beast's 
common  name  is  Field-Mouse.  It  was  some  learned 
donkey  who  thought  of  dropping  the  essential  Mouse, 
and  leaving  the  bare  Vole,  not  knowing,  of  course,  what 
the  latter  really  stood  for.* 

Already  a  year  later  he  admitted  that  there  were 
worse  things  even  than  trinomials,  trifles  though  they 
were. 

I  thought  you  might  appreciate  that  reproduction  of 
Wolley's  sketch,  and  I  am  glad  you  do  so,  trifle  as  it  is 
— but  then  the  world  is  made  up  of  trifles,  and  from 
some  the  more  we  can  free  ourselves  the  better.  Of  this 
kind  are  trinomials,  motor-cars,  hymns,  and  cats — the 
last  perhaps  the  worst  of  all,  for  there  is  no  avoiding 
them.  Until  I  am  run  down  by  a  motor-car  I  shan't 
much  mind,  and  when  I  am  run  down  I  suppose  I  shall 
be  finished  and  so  mind  still  less.f 

*  Letter  to  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  April  21,  1904. 
t  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  April  5,  1905. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

LANGUAGES   AND   WORDS 

THE  labour  which  Newton  devoted  to  the  recording  and 
identification  of  specimens  for  the  Museum  was  equalled 
or  even  surpassed  by  the  industry  of  his  researches  in 
the  history  of  Ornithology  and  the  meaning  of  names. 
The  most  casual  perusal  of  the  "  Dictionary  of  Birds  "  will 
show  that  it  is  a  mass  of  information  with  hardly  a 
redundant  sentence.  The  Introduction,  in  particular, 
which  contains  a  history  and  a  general  survey  of  the 
science  of  Ornithology,  is  evidence  of  a  rare  and  wide 
learning.  From  his  undergraduate  days  Newton  had 
taken  an  interest  in  Scandinavian  tongues,  his  knowledge 
of  which  improved  during  his  visits  to  Norway  and 
Sweden,  and  to  these  he  added  a  considerable  knowledge 
of  Anglo-Saxon.  The  present  biographer  wrote  to 
Professor  Skeat  asking  for  some  account  of  Newton  as  a 
student  of  languages  and  received  the  following  letter  in 
reply :- 

Cambridge, 

June  25/09. 

DEAR  SIR, 

I  am  quite  grieved  to  find  that  I  am  unable  to 
help  you.  I  spend  much  time  in  helping  others — they 
are  quite  welcome  always. 

But  unfortunately  I  have  not  kept  Professor  Newton's 
most  useful  letters.    I  used  the  information,  all  the  same  ! 

But  you  can  say  this  :— - 

When   I   returned  to   Cambridge   in    1864,   I   was 
extremely  desirous  of  learning  Anglo-Saxon,  but  knew 
220 


ANGLO-SAXON  221 

nothing  as  to  the  names  of  the  best  books,  nor  had  I  any 
idea  as  to  whom  to  apply  for  information,  as  the  study 
seemed  to  be  absolutely  unknown  here.  In  this  dilemma, 
I  applied  to  my  oldest  and  best  friend,  who  happened  to 
be  at  that  time  a  Fellow  of  Magdalene  College.  He 
bethought  him  of  asking  Newton  for  advice,  who 
at  once  told  him  that  the  easiest  book  for  a  beginner 
was  Vernon's  "  Anglo-Saxon  Guide."  I  at  once  procured 
this  very  useful  work  (now  superseded  by  Dr.  Sweet's 
Anglo-Saxon  Primer),  and  this  enabled  me  to  make  a 
good  beginning.  But  for  Prof.  Newton,  I  should  not 
have  known  what  to  do  ;  and  I  owe  it  to  him  that  I  have 
been  enabled  to  study  Old  English  successfully. 

Prof.  Newton  was  also  well  acquainted  with  Scandi- 
navian, and  was  especially  interested  in  Scandinavian 
bird-names  ;  indeed  he  knew  the  names  of  birds  in  a  large 
number  of  languages  ;  and  in  many  cases,  knew  the 
history  of  the  names  themselves  ;  so  that,  for  practical 
purposes,  his  philological  knowledge  was  extensive.  He 
most  kindly  assisted  me  (as  well  as  the  editors  of  the  New 
English  Dictionary)  in  many  of  my  etymological  investi- 
gations ;  and  I  always  found  his  information  of  much 
value. 

It  is  difficult  to  specify  instances.  But  you  will  find 
an  example  under  Ornithology,  in  my  book  entitled  "Notes 
on  English  Etymology,"  Oxford,  1901,  at  p.  201.  The 
information  afforded  by  Prof.  Newton  helped  me  (and  the 
New  Eng.  Diet.)  to  give  a  correct  account  of  that  word. 
I  again  quote  him  twice  (s.v.  Staniel)  at  pp.  280,  281,  of 
the  same.  And  again  s.v.  Whimbrel,  p.  319  of  the  same 
work,  I  quote  WiUughby,  whose  work  I  never  saw,  but 
only  knew  by  help  of  Prof.  Newton's  communications.  I 
believe  I  was  also  indebted  to  him  for  a  recommendation 
to  read  Stedman's  "  Surinam.,"  a  most  fascinating  book, 
which  I  read  through  twice  ;  it  helped  me  (and  the  New 
Eng.  Diet.)  to  a  correct  understanding  of  the  words 
Piccaninny  and  Quassia*  see  pp.  213,  234  of  the  same 
book. 

Prof.  Newton  was  naturally  much  interested  in  the 


222          LANGUAGES  AND  WORDS 

Anglo-Saxon  names  of  birds.  I  remember  that  I  pointed 
out  to  him  the  list  entitled  "  Nomina  Avium  "  in  ^Elfric's 
Vocabulary,  as  printed  at  col.  131  of  Wulcker's  reprint 
of  T.  Wright's  "  Anglo-Saxon  and  Old  English  Vocabu- 
laries," London,  1884.  This  he  at  once  copied  out  on 
slips  of  paper  and  arranged  in  alphabetical  order  for  ready 
reference. 

By  his  assistance  I  was  able  to  give  a  fuller  account 
of  the  phrase  cocksJiut  time  than  even  that  in  the  New 
English  Dictionary.  This  article  is  printed  at  p.  166  of 
the  Transactions  of  the  (London)  Philological  Society  for 
1903-6.  I  mention  his  name  twice  on  p.  167. 

The  only  letter  I  can  find  from  him  is  the  one  which 
I  enclose,  which  gives  useful  information  as  to  the  word 
Avocet.  You  will  see  that  he  asks  me  to  tell  him  when  I 
publish  my  views  on  the  subject.  But  I  have  not  yet 
done  so,  as  I  cannot  find  the  ultimate  origin  of  the  word. 
The  only  suggestion  I  know  is  that  it  is  a  derivative  of 
Lat.  avis,  a  bird  ;  and  this  is  by  no  means  satisfactory. 
All  I  know  about  it  is  that  it  occurs  in  Florio's  Italian- 
English  Dictionary  (1598),  who  gives  :  "  Avosetta,  a 
fowle  like  a  storke,"  and  that  he  also  spells  it  Avoserta. 

I  also  enclose  the  note  which  accompanied  a  present 
of  Part  II  of  his  "  Dicty.  of  Birds  "  (1893). 

I  am  extremely  sorry  that  I  can  help  you  no  further. 

Yours, 

W.  W.  SKEAT. 

The  letter  concerning  the  Avoeet,  to  which  reference 
is  made,  reads  : — 

10.1.1906. 

MY  DEAR  SKEAT, 

Thanks  once  more.  I  find  it  was  Gesner  who 
first  described  the  Avocet  and  published  its  name — over- 
leaf I  have  transcribed  the  passage.  Aldrovandi,  whose 
3rd  volume  of  "  Ornithologia  "  was  not  published  till 
1603,  though  an  Italian,  added  nothing  to  the  point.  I 
don't  know,  but  I  should  infer  that  Gesner,  who  was  a 
modest  man  and  did  not  vaunt  his  own  experience, 


PEOFESSOR  SKEAT  223 

probably  saw  the  bird  himself  at  Ferrara.  It  is  rather  a 
misnomer  for  the  people  to  have  called  the  Long-billed 
Curlew  Spinzago,  for  its  bill  is  distinctly  blunt  and  not 
needle-pointed.  Pray  let  me  know  when  and  where  you 
publish  your  views  as  to  Avosetta,  that  I  may  refer  to 
them  if  occasion  should  arise. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

De  Avosetta 

Avis  haec,  cujus  iconum  in  sequeli  pagina  damus,  apud 
Malos  Ferrarae  auosetta  (ni  fallor)  nominatur,  nescio  qua 
ratione :  &  a  rostri  sursuru  inflexi  figura  beccostorta 
&  beccoroella.  Lucarni  circa  lacum  Verbanum  spinzago 
d'aqua  :  nam  &  arquata  avis  jam  supra  nobis  descripta 
spinzago  simpliciter  eis  nominatur,  haec  vero  aquatica 
est,  &  palmipes. 

Conradi  Gesneri,  Tigurini  medici  &  Philosophise 
professoris  in  Schola  Tigurina,  "Historiae  Animalium," 
Liber  III,  qui  est  de  Auium  natura  (Tiguri :  1555),  p.  225. 

The  above  is  the  earliest  description  of  the  Avosetta, 
but  the  same  is  first  mentioned  a  few  pages  before  (p.  215) 
in  the  description  of  the  Arquata  or  Spinzago  simpliciter, 
i.e.  the  Long-billed  Curlew. 

A.N. 

He  always  spelt  the  Cuckoo  in  the  old-fashioned 
manner  "  Cuckow,"  and  preferred  to  write  the  Whooper 
Swan  without  the  initial  "  W,"  for  which  he  had  the 
authority  of  Professor  Skeat : — 

Cambridge, 
January  4,  1906. 

MY  DEAR  NEWTON, 

I  think  the  inconsistency  in  the  spelling  of 
hoop-whoop  is  not  exactly  my  own,  but  due  to  the  per- 
versity of  the  English  public.  The  correct  form  (etymo- 
logically)  is  hoop,  but  you  cannot  get  people  (as  a  rule) 
to  adopt  it.  But  if  you  have  the  courage  of  your  opinions 


224  LANGUAGES  AND  WORDS 

I  should  be  glad  to  see  the  name  hooper  brought  to  our 
notice.  It's  precisely  in  the  same  case  as  hole,  adj., 
which  became  whole  about  A.D.  1500  or  a  little  earlier, 
and  is  likely  to  remain  whole  for  another  century. 

The  cause  was  that  (about  1450-1500)  a  habit  arose 
of  prefixing  a  well-pronounced  w  to  words  beginning 
with  ho,  hoo,  o,  oo.  I  gave  a  long  list  of  these,  and 
traced  the  fate  of  each  word  in  the  set,  a  few  years  ago, 
for  the  Camb.  Phil.  Society.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
is  hot,  because  Spenser  got  hold  of  the  form  whot,  and 
stuck  to  it ;  but  it  has  now  become  hot  again ;  for 
the  prefixing  of  the  w  was,  first  of  all,  in  fashion  ;  and 
secondly,  went  out  again :  whole  and  whoop  are  almost  the 
only  ones  left.  But  the  w  survives  in  dialects,  as  in 
woaks  for  oaks  and  wuts  for  oats. 

That's  how  I  still  write  whoop,  though  I  know  that 
hoop  is  better,  and  I  still  write  deligM,  though  I  know  it 
to  be  an  ignorant  substitute  for  delite. 

As  to  spelling  reform,  I  should  like  to  see  it ;  but 
it  is  impracticable  at  present.  I  have  an  article  to  write 
upon  it  for  the  B.A. 

Yours  sincerely, 

W.  W.  SKEAT. 

The  origin  of  the  name  Capercally  or  Capercaillie 
was  the  subject  of  much  correspondence  at  one  time  with 
Mr.  Harvie-Brown  and  others. 

Now  about  the  etymology  of  Capercally.  (Of  course, 
I  know  nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  of  Gaelic.)  Having 
to  write  the  article  thereon  for  the  "  Encycl.  Brit."  and 
being  in  great  doubt  as  to  the  spelling,  I  applied  to  all 
such  persons  as  I  thought  could  help  me — among  others 
to  the  corresponding  Editor  of  the  Encylopsedia,  Mr. 
McArthur,  whom  I  requested  to  inquire  of  the  best 
Gaelic  scholar  he  could  get  concerning  the  meaning,  etc., 
of  the  name,  and  I  herewith  enclose  you  3  letters  which 
were  the  result  of  that  inquiry.  The  first  from  McArthur 
introduces  the  others.  I  never  heard  of  Dr.  McLauchlan 


CAPERCAILLIE     .  225 

before  and  take  his  reputation  on  trust  from  McArthur, 
but  I  doubt  not  he  is  a  good  authority.  Not  feeling  quite 
sure  of  the  particular  sense  in  which  McLauchlan  used 
the  expression  "  old  bird,"  I  applied  to  him  again,  asking 
whether  it  signified  antiquus,  adultus,  or  senex,  and  you 
will  see  that  he  says  it  means  the  last.  "  Capull  "  (= 
Caballus)  you  perceive  he  will  not  hear  of.  Please  to 
return  me  these  letters  at  your  convenience. 

My  own  opinion,  so  far  as  it  is  worth  anything,  is 
that  the  Gaelic  name  of  the  bird  ought  to  be  spelt  as 
McLauchlan  says,  "  Capercoille  " — but  the  English  or 
Lowland  Scotch,  I  think,  should  be  Capercally,  or  Caper- 
kally  (plural — ies).  The  first  of  McLauchlan's  letters 
shows,  I  think,  how  Sibbald's  Capricalea  came  about — 
"  Gabhar,"  caper,  the  goat — but  this  is  beside  the 
mark. 

Your  explanation  of  the  interchange  of  z  and  y  in 
old  books  is  I  think  hardly  sufficient,  for  they  were  used, 
I  will  not  say  indifferently,  but  at  times  one  for  the  other, 
long  before  the  days  of  printing,  and  Old  English  MSS. 
have  a  mysterious  letter  |  or  £  about  the  pronunciation 
of  which  some  of  the  best  Old  English  scholars  are  in 
doubt ;  for  in  some  words  it  is  modernized  into  gh,  if  I 
remember  right,  frequently  into  y  consonant,  and  less 
commonly  into  z.* 

I  am  really  greatly  indebted  to  you  for  all  the  trouble 

you  have  taken  in  re  Caper ,  but  I  am  still  in  doubt 

as  to  how  I  should  best  render  the  name  in  English. 
The  z  is  clearly  not  wanted,  to  say  nothing  of  its  being 
misleading  to  a  Southron,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  its 
retention  savours  of  pedantry.  It  may  be  proper 
enough  in  a  proper  name  like  Menzies,  just  as  we  have 
people  in  England  who  stick  to  Smijth  and  ffolkes — the 
"  ij  "  in  the  first  being  merely  a  "  y  "  marked  to  show  it 
is  to  be  pronounced  short,  and  the  "  ff  "  in  the  last 
standing  only  for  an  initial  or  capital  F. 

Pennant,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  first  British  (as 

*  Letter  to  Mr.  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  March  16, 1878. 

Q 


226  LANGUAGES  AND  WORDS 

opposed  to  Scottish  or  Irish  only)  naturalist  who  mentions 
it  as  a  bird  of  this  country,  says  that  it  was  called  "  in  the 
old  law  books  Caperkally."  Your  evidence  contradicts 
this,  but  in  some  of  the  subsequent  Acts  it  may  have  been 
so  termed,  for  I  have  generally  found  Pennant  pretty 
accurate.  Still  he  gives  no  particular  authority  and  it 
may  be  that  he  got  this  information  verbally,  in  which 
case  he  is  certainly  not  far  wrong,  for  I  suppose  he  in- 
tended the  second  "  a  "  to  be  sounded  broad,  and  I  am 
told  that  the  nearest  approach  to  the  sound  of  the  Gaelic 
when  written  in  English  is  "  Caper-coilye  "  or  perhaps 
"  Caper-choylye."  It  would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  me 
to  prove  Pennant  absolutely  right  by  finding  a  "  law- 
book  "  in  which  the  name  was  spelt  "Caperkally 
or  "  Capercally  "—which  last  I  am  pretty  sure  Wolley 
used  to  maintain  he  had  satisfied  himself  was  correct. 

I  wish  Mr.  Small  wrote  more  distinctly,  I  can't  be 
sure  whether  he  means  his  new  derivation  to  be  "  Cabbar  " 
(an  old  bird)  and  "  Coille,"  the  first  word  being  written 
to  look  more  like  "  Cakkar." 

I  forgot  to  answer  the  question  in  your  former  letter. 
I  have  duly  received  your  paper  on  "  Birds  of  Suther- 
land and  Gulls  in  the  Forth,"  but  no  duplicate  copy  of 
"  Transylvania."  * 

The  word  written  by  Mr.  Small  was  correctly, 
"  Cabher,"  signifying  an  old  man,  or  old  bird. 

Soon  after  this  Mr.  Harvie-Brown  began  to  collect 
material  for  his  book  "  The  Capercaillie  in  Scotland  " 
(published  in  1879),  and  Newton  gave  him  much  help  in 
looking  for  early  references  to  the  bird. 

I  cannot  find  a  copy  of  Lindsay's  (Pittscottie)  History 
in  our  library,  but  I  have  found  that  we  possess  2  editions 
of  the  Scots  Acts.  In  the  older  (printed  in  1566)  there 
is  one  of  Q.  Mary,  1551.  "  Of  the  prices  of  wylde  and 
tame  meitis.  Ca.  Xj,"  which  are  to  be  :— 

"  Gran  "  5/-,  "  Swan  "  5/-,  "  Wylde  geese  of  the 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  February  17,  1876. 


CAPERCAILLIE  227 

greit  kind "  2/-,  "  Claikquink  and  rute "  -/I8d., 
"  pleuver  and  small  meere  foule  "  -/4d.9  "  blak  cok  and 
the  gray  hen  "  -/6d,  "  the  dosane  of  poutis  "  -/12d., 
"  quhaip  "  -/6d.,  "  the  cuning  "  2/-  until  the  next  feast 
of  Fasternis  Even  and  afterwards  -/I2d.,  laproun 
-/2d.,  woodcok  -/4d.,  larks  and  other  small  birds  -J4d. 
the  doz.,  "  Snype  and  qualzie  "  -/2d.,  "  tame  geese  " 
-flGd.,  "  capone  "  -/12d.,  "  hen  and  pultrie  "  -/gflL 
"  chikin  "  -/4d.,  "  gryse  "  -/I8d. 

In  the  later  edition  (1681)  the  same  spelling  is  ob- 
served. 

Now  what  can  this  "  gryse  "  be  ?  Sold  at  18  pence 
when  black  cock  and  grey  hen  were  at  6  pence  and 
"  pouts "  (I  suppose  heath-poultes  or  moor-poultes, 
i.e.  Red  Grouse,  at  12  pence  the  dozen  !  Was  it  Caper- 
cally  ? 

Pinkerton  in  his  "  Hist.  Scotl.  "  (II.  p.  397)  prints  a 
letter  from  one  John  Elder  of  Caithness  to  Henry  VIII. 
in  which  the  former  says  : — "  Our  delight  and  pleasure 
is  not  only  in  hunting  of  red-deer,  wolves,  foxes  and 
graies,  whereof  we  abound  and  have  great  plenty." 
"  Graies  "  here  are,  of  course,  badgers,  as  also  in  the  Act 
of  Jas.  II.  (of  Scotland),  1455,  prescribing  the  dress  of 
the  Lords  of  Parliament,  who  were  to  have, "  ane  mantill 
of  reid,  rychtswa  oppinnit  befoir,  and  lynit  with  silk, 
or  furrit  with  cristy  gray  grece  or  purray."  The  later 
edition  spells  the  word  "  griece." 

Badgers,  though  eatable,  could  never  have  come  into 
the  market  sufficiently  often  to  make  it  desirable  for 
their  price  to  be  fixed,  and  I  only  quote  these  passages 
to  be  assured  by  you  that  the  "  grice  "  of  Pittscottie 
cannot  refer  to  them. 

But  the  "  gryse  "  of  Mary's  Act  puzzles  me  not  a 
little  just  as  much  as  some  of  the  other  birds  (?)  named 
in  the  same  document.* 

I  can  no  more  decide  whether  Dr.  McLauchlan  or 
McArthur  is  the  better  Gaelic  scholar  than  I  can  take 


Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie- Brown,  February  16,  1878. 


228  LANGUAGES  AND  WORDS 

on  me  to  say  which  derivation  is  the  truer.  But  what 
makes  me  lean  to  the  former  is  that  not  only  has  he  the 
latter 's  experience  to  go  upon,  but  also  that  having  asked 
the  Editors  of  the  "  Encycl.  Brit."  to  get  the  opinion  of 
the  best  man,  and  they  (having  opportunity  of  knowing 
who  that  best  man  is  and  of  getting  his  opinion)  choose 
McLauchlan.  Of  course,  both  he  and  they  are  liable 
to  error,  and  there  are  more  differences  of  opinion  among 
scholars  than  among  naturalists  even,  though  Heaven 
knows  these  are  wide  enough  at  times.  What  I  should 
recommend  you  to  do  is  to  state  both  and  adopt 
neither  !  Your  "  Horse-cock  "  *  brings  us  to  the  fabled 
Hippolectryon  of  Aristophanes,  or  Cockhorse  of  our 
childhood ! 

I  don't  think  the  law  of  priority  can  apply  in  the  case 
of  derivations  for  a  minute.  We  should  have  to  accept 
the  famous  liicus  a  non  lucendo,  Roma  from  Romulus, 
Tibur  from  Tiburinus,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  fanciful 
derivations  invented  before  Etymology  was  anything  but 
a  series  of  guesses. 

Dr.  McLauchlan's  letters  were,  of  course,  written  with 
the  object  of  his  views  therein  expressed  being  made 
public,  but  Mr.  McArthur,  I  imagine,  would  not  like 
being  quoted  as  though  he  thought  himself  or  was  thought 
to  be  a  Gaelic  authority,  for  he  told  me  in  one  letter  that 
he  was  not. 

I  sent  you  a  card  yesterday  anent  Przevalsky — one 
part  of  which  (the  3rd)  is  wanting. 

A  Squirrel  inquiry  would  no  doubt  be  in  some 
degree  interesting — but  I  don't  think  people  will 
value  it  so  much  as  they  will  this  Caperkally  investi- 
gation. 

Everybody  seems  to  think  that  "  Gryse  "  in  that  old 
statute  means  pig,  I  am  sure  it  cannot  be  grouse.  Have 
you  made  out  mittalis,  atteils,  goldings  (NB.,gaulding  is 
now  the  general  word  in  the  English  W.  India  Islands 
for  the  smaller  Herons),  mortyms,  schidderenis,  brissel-cock 

*  This  is  a  reference  to  an  improbable  derivation  of  the  word  from  the 
Gaelic  "  capull,"  a  horse. 


MISTLETOE  THRUSH  229 

(c/.  coq  de  brossailes)  or  paunies  (cf.  paons)  ?     "  Lapron  " 
I  take  to  be  Hare  (Lepus). 

There  is  no  doubt  about  the  MS.  use  of  § — cnift= 
knight  is  a  good  illustration  of  it.* 

Mr.  Thomas  Southwell,  a  well-known  Norfolk  natur- 
alist, found  that  the  Mistle-Thrush  was  called  in  some 
districts  of  East  Anglia  "  Drain,"  the  same  name  by 
which  the  bird  is  known  in  France,  and  he  asked  Newton 
if  he  knew  the  origin  of  the  word. 

March  5, 1902. 

MY  DEAR  SOUTHWELL, 

I  don't  know  what  is  the  origin  of  Draine 
except  it  be  as  Vieillot,  in  the  passage  I  have  transcribed, 
says  from  the  bird's  cry  "  tre,  tre,  tre."  Littre  does  not 
attempt  any  derivation,  but  Holland  compares  it  with 
the  Spanish  Drena.  It  has  long  been  the  published  name 
of  the  Mistletoe  Thrush  in  French  books,  and  no  doubt 
Bewick  quoted  it  from  Buffon.  Buffon,  by  the  way, 
is  just  as  explicit  about  the  birds  feeding  on  the  berries 
and  bearing  some  of  its  common  names  from  the  fact  as 
Vieillot  is,  and  it  is  the  same  in  various  Italian  dialects, 
which  all  come  from  the  local  name  of  the  Mistletoe. 
Had  not  Mr.  Engelheart  "  missled,"  he  would  have 
caught  it  pretty  severely  from  me,  but  I  am  thankful 
I  have  not  had  to  administer  the  punishment,  for  in  my 
reply  I  stuck  simply  to  the  points  he  had  raised. 

Wilkin  had  prepared  me  for  some  discrepancies 
between  the  different  editions  of  Browne's  "  V.E.,"  but 
those  you  notice  between  that  of  1646  and  the  others 
are  in  this  case  of  no  importance.  In  Wilkin's  reprint 
he  has  the  Greek  word  efo/3o/>o?,  which  is  clearly 
wrong,  for  it  ought  to  be  Ifofiopos  as  it  stands  in 
Browne's  first  edition. 

I  saw  Wilkin's  note  about  the  European  species  of 
mistletoe,  but  that  does  not  signify  as  the  Viscum  album 
admittedly  grows  in  Greece  and  was  doubtless  the 
original  "  c£o<?." 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  March  20,  1878. 


230  LANGUAGES  AND  WOKDS 

The  articles  in  the  Standard  that  I  mean  began  fully 

20  years  ago.    Perhaps  you  know  whether  Mr.  S has 

been  writing  all  that  time.  I  never  heard  of  Mr.  E — — 
or  saw  to  my  knowledge  any  of  his  articles.  What  a 
discovery  for  him  to  make  about  Dodman  and  Thrushes ! 
If  he  be  an  imitator  of  Jefferies  he  must  be  bad  indeed, 
for  I  think  the  writings  of  the  latter  to  be  in  the  worst 
taste  possible.  It  has  always  amazed  me  to  read  how 
much  he  is  admired,  for  greater  rubbish  there  can  hardly 
be.  Whenever  he  tried  his  pen  on  human  beings  the 
reviewers  were  down  upon  him,  and  most  justly,  for 
they  saw  what  stuff  it  was  ;  but  knowing  no  Nat.  Hist, 
they  did  not  find  him  out  there.  All  the  same  I  pity 
the  wretched  man. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

Writing  in  "Yarrell"*  of  the  Mistletoe- Thrush, 
Newton  added  an  interesting  footnote  on  the  subject  of 
the  bird  eating  the  berries  of  the  mistletoe. 

This  fact  was  known  to  Aristotle,  as  his  name, 
(i£op6po<s)  for  the  bird  shews.  Dr.  Prior,  in  his 
"  Popular  Names  of  British  Plants  "  (p.  153),  gives  the 
derivation  of  Mistletoe,  or  its  Old-English  equivalent, 
Mistiltan,  "  from  mistl,  different,  and  tan,  twig,  being  so 
unlike  the  tree  it  grows  upon ;  "  but  my  two  learned 
friends,  Mr.  W.  W.  Skeat  and  Mr.  J.  Rawson  Lumby, 
think  mistl  to  be  an  unusual  contraction  of  the  unusual 
form  mistlic,  which  is  a  corruption  of  mislic  (unlike),  while 
the  Doctor's  derivation,  taken  from  Bosworth,  is  contra- 
dicted by  the  use  of  the  t  in  the  old  High-German  mistil, 
(mistletoe).  This  last,  clearly  the  origin  of  the  plant's 
name,  is  probably  from  mist,  meaning  dirt  or  obscurity. 
The  idea  of  dirt,  from  the  viscosity  of  the  berries,  is 
most  likely  that  which  is  here  attached  to  the  word  ; 
but  it  may  refer  to  Mist,  one  of  the  goddesses  of  fate  in 
the  Northern  mythology,  and  in  this  sense  Mistletoe 
would  signify  "  twig  of  fate,"  in  connection  with  which 
there  is  a  story  in  Snorri's  "  Edda  "  (chap.  49).  Tan, 


DECOY  231 

it  may  be  observed,  still  survives  in  English  as  the 
"  tine  "  of  a  fork  or  of  a  stag's  antler.  Anyhow  it  would 
seem  that  the  proper  name  of  this  bird  should  be  written 
in  full  "  Mistletoe-Thrush,"  and  not,  as  commonly, 
"  Missel-Thrush."  * 

The  origin  of  the  word  "  decoy  "  is  not  generally 
known. 

"  I  have  had  no  doubt  since  I  looked  into  the  question 
of  the  origin  of  our  word  decoy.  It  comes  straight  from 
the  Dutch  "  eende-coy  " — Duck-coy — •"  coy  "  meaning 
more  than  a  cage  but  almost  any  kind  of  enclosure  for 
keeping  birds  alive.  The  "  eende  "  not  being  under- 
stood by  Englishmen  soon  lost  its  first  syllable,  and  then 
you  have  the  word  exactly.  I  think  I  pointed  this  out 
in  a  review  I  wrote  somewhere  of  Payne-Gallway's  book, 
saying  that  it  was  absurd  to  speak  of  a  Duck  Decoy, 
though  of  course  one  might  properly  speak  of  a  Decoy 
Duck. 

Pijlstaart  is  nowadays  even  the  common  Dutch  name 
for  the  Pintail,  which  is  almost  translation  of  the  word, 
"  pijl "  (pronounced  pile)  being  a  spike  of  any  kind. 
Pijlstaart  was  also  applied  by  Dutch  sailors  to  the  Tropic- 
bird  from  its  long  spike-like  tail,  hence  Pijlstaart  Island, 
corrupted  into  "  Pillstart,"  a  well-known  place  to  the 
North  of  New  Zealand,  and  perhaps  repeated  in  other 
seas.  "  Staart  "  is,  of  course,  tail,  as  in  Kedstart,  Start 
Point,  etc.  | 

Partly  by  reason  of  his  physical  infirmity,  which 
necessarily  made  his  life  more  sedentary  than  that  of 
others,  and  partly  owing  to  his  habit  of  discouraging 
visitors  except  at  stated  hours,  Newton  had  more  time 
for  reading  than  have  most  men,  and  he  was  blessed  with 
an  uncommonly  retentive  memory.  Sale-lists  and  book- 
sellers' catalogues  from  all  countries  filled  his  letter-box, 
but  he  was  not  a  collector  of  books,  though  his  library 

*  "  History  of  British  Birds,"  4th  edition,  I.  p.  260. 
t  Letter  to  Mr,  T.  Southwell,  May  5,  1903. 


232  LANGUAGES  AND  WORDS 

contained  many  of  great  rarity,  and  his  purchases  were 
few.  The  University  and  Philosophical  Libraries  pro- 
vided him  with  most  of  the  books  he  wanted,  and  there 
were  few  treating  even  remotely  of  Natural  History  that 
did  not  eventually  find  their  way  to  him.  There  was 
usually  something  to  be  learnt  from  them,  but  there  were 
occasions  when  he  found  that  his  hours  had  been  wasted 
and  then  he  did  not  hesitate  to  trample  on  the  luckless 
author. 

I  have  been  wasting  3  or  4  days  looking  over  an  essay 
by  a  very  great  German  classic  on  the  Fauna  of  the  early 
Roman  writers.  I  had  hoped  to  have  found  a  great  many 
allusions  to  birds  and  other  animals  all  carefully  set 
forth,  but  to  my  disappointment  there  is  nothing  of  the 
sort,  and  the  author  avoids  any  serious  difficulty.  I 
believe  the  authorities  here  have  gone  so  far  as  to  say 
they  will  print  this,  but  I  should  not  advise  it.  You 
may  judge  what  the  book  is  like  when  the  author  wants 
to  make  out  that  the  Napun,  given  by  Pliny  as  an 
Ethiopian  name  of  the  Giraffe,  is  the  Okapi !  As  if  the 
recondite  resemblances  between  these  two  animals  was 
plainly  visible  to  every  eye,  instead  of  being  reserved  for 
those  who  are  comparative  osteologists  !  People  like 
this  ought  to  be  shut  up  in  Tolbooths  or  such-like  places, 
where  the  harmlessly  silly  may  live  their  lives  without 
bothering  others  with  their  nonsense.* 

His  varied  learning  and  his  accurate  memory  were 
constantly  being  called  upon  in  the  most  diverse  direc- 
tions and  were  seldom  found  wanting.  At  a  meeting  of 
"  The  Family,"  an  old-fashioned  University  dining-club, 
somebody  raised  the  question  of  the  "  No  Snakes  in 
Iceland  "  story.  One  member  present  remembered  the 
reference  to  it  in  Boswell,f  but  it  was  Newton  who  knew 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  March  20,  1900. 

f  "  Langton  said  very  well  to  me  afterwards,  that  he  could  repeat 
Johnson's  conversation  before  dinner,  as  Johnson  said  that  he  could  repeat 


SNAKES  IN  ICELAND  233 

the  origin  of  it,  and  at  the  request  of  Mr.  H.  T.  Francis, 
then  Librarian  of  Caius,  he  wrote  the  history  in  a  note 
on  the  following  day. 

M.C.,  February  12,  1903. 

MY  DEAR  FRANCIS, 

I  told  the  whole  of  the  "  No  snakes  (or  owls) 
in  Iceland "  story,  chapter  and  verse,  in  Notes  and 
Queries  ever  so  long  ago — perhaps  20  years — but  I 
cannot  lay  my  hands  on  the  reference.  Briefly  it  is  this. 
There  was  one  Anderson,  burgomaster  of  Hamburg,  who 
wrote  "  Nachrichten  von  Island  "  which  was  (posthum- 
ously) published  in  1746  or  1747,  and  therein  the  occur- 
rence of  Owls  and  Snakes  in  that  island  is  mentioned. 
The  Danish  Government  did  not  like  what  he  said 
generally  of  the  place,  and  employed  one  Horrebow  to 
reply  to  him.  This  Horrebow  did  in  his  "  Tilferladelige 
Efterretninges  om  Island,"  published  in  1752,  taking 
Anderson's  assertions  categorically.  An  English  trans- 
lation of  Horrebow  appeared  a  few  years  after,  each  of 
the  subjects  on  which  he  remarked  being  headed  Chapter 
so  and  so.  Thus  you  have  "  Chaper  XLII.  Of  Owls. 
There  are  no  owls  of  any  kind  in  the  whole  island," — and 
the  same  with  Chapter  LXXII.  "  Of  Snakes."  I  don't 
suppose  the  book  attracted  much  attention  till  Sidney 
Smith  (I  think)  happening  to  come  across  it  saw  the 
absurdity  and  brought  it  into  some  article  (on  quite  a 
different  subject)  in  the  Edinburgh  (?)  Review  and 
the  expression  has  since  become  famous. 

»  Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

a  complete  chapter  of  the  '  Natural  History  of  Iceland  '  from  the  Danish 
of  Horrebow,  the  whole  of  which  was  exactly  thus  : — 

'  Chapter  LXXII. — Concerning  Snakes. 

'  There  are  no  snakes  to  be  met  with  throughout  the  whole  island.'  " 
["  Life  of  Johnson,"  chapter  zxxviii]. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

WRITING   AND   CONSERVATISM 

As  the  years  went  OD  the  number  of  Newton's  friends 
and  acquaintances  grew.  Most  of  the  leading  zoologists, 
and  many  besides,  in  this  and  other  countries  were 
personal  acquaintances  and  many  of  them  were  frequent 
correspondents.  He  never  employed  a  secretary  and 
was  always  most  particular  to  answer  a  letter  on  the 
morning  after  its  arrival. 

I  don't  know  that  much  credit  is  due  to  me  for 
being  punctual  in  correspondence.  Experience  has 
shown  me  that  in  the  end  it  saves  trouble  to  be  so,  and 
that  is  why  I  am  never  easy  so  long  as  a  letter  remains 
unanswered. 

He  wrote  on  the  back  of  each  letter  the  date  of  its 
receipt  and  the  date  of  his  reply  :  if  the  letter  were  of 
any  importance,  he  wrote  and  kept  a  rough  draft  (which 
he  labelled  "  draught  ")  of  his  reply.  Nearly  all  letters, 
excepting  the  most  trivial  notes  such  as  invitations  to 
dinner,  etc.,  he  kept  tied  up  in  bundles.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  he  wrote  to  and  received  a  letter  from 
his  brother  Edward  almost  daily,  and  that  his  letter 
address  book  contains  several  hundreds  of  names,  it  can 
be  believed  that  the  accumulated  correspondence  of 
more  than  fifty  years  amounted  to  tens  of  thousands  of 
letters. 

Although  he  was  invariably  courteous  and  punctilious 
in  replying  to  people  who  wrote  to  him  about  one  thing 


234 


CORRESPONDENCE  235 

or  another,  he  complained  in  private  of  the  time  he 
wasted  in  writing  to  them : — 

People  keep  writing  to  me  on  every  conceivable 
subject  connected  with  birds,  but  there  is  nothing  in 
their  letters  on  which  I  need  comment  to  you.  I  begin 
to  suspect  that  I  shall  have  to  invent  a  lithographed  form 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  stranger's  letter  "  which 
shall  have  due  attention,"  and  then  put  it  in  the  waste- 
paper  basket — after  which  there  must  be  another  form 
to  the  effect  that  it  "  had  received  due  attention." 
This  would  make  one  much  beloved.* 

Apart  from  his  purely  scientific  correspondence, 
Newton  wrote  regularly  on  all  manner  of  subjects  to  a 
number  of  old  friends,  among  whom  may  be  particularly 
mentioned  Canon  Tristram  of  Durham,  Lord  Lilford, 
and  Mr.  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown.  The  first  of  these  had  a 
severe  "stroke"  in  1893,  and  the  correspondence  was 
interrupted  for  some  months.  When  he  was  beginning 
to  recover,  Newton  wrote  'to  him  : — 

I  am  indeed  glad  once  more  to  see  your  handwriting, 
and  I  congratulate  you  most  heartily  on  having  once 
more  resumed  the  practice  of  the  2nd  of  the  "  3  R's  " — 
and  in  your  case  I  may  say  of  the  4th  since  R-ticulation 
has  been  added  to  the  others.  I  take  it  as  a  great 
compliment  that  you  should  select  me  as  the  recipient 
of  your  second  MS.,  and  I  admire  the  judgment  of  your 
Dr.  in  prohibiting  the  two  P's — preaching  and  poli- 
tics. I  believe  (miscreant  that  I  am)  that  the  former 
makes  few  men  better,  and  I  know  that  the  latter  makes 
many  men  worse. 

You  are  easily  pleased  if  you  can  find  delight  in 
B.M.  Cats  ;  as  a  whole  a  more  useless  litter  was  never 
kitted,  f  not  even  one  which  a  few  weeks  ago  my  man 

*  Letter  to  Lord  Lilford,  March  14,  1891. 

t  Le.,  "  British  Museum  Catalogues,"  of  which  he  had  a  deep-rooted 
dislike.    A  careless  correspondent  confused  catalogues  with  dictionaries  and 


WRITING  AND  CONSERVATISM 

deposited  by  my  ( garden)  doorstep  and  by  the 
desire  of  the  mother's  owner  its  members  expiated  their 
uncommitted  offences  in  a  prompt  water-butt.* 

Even  the  comparatively  trifling  business  of  beginning 
or  ending  a  letter  demanded  a  definite  amount  of  care 
and  consideration.  Mr.  Harvie-Brown  wished  to  dedi- 
cate a  volume  of  the  "  Fauna  of  Scotland  "  to  Newton 
and  sent  him  a  draft  of  the  proposed  dedication,  which 
came  in  for  Newton's  criticism : — 

I  indeed  take  it  very  kindly  of  you  that  you  should 
wish  to  dedicate  your  book  to  me,  but  I  confess  I  hardly 
think  that  a  regular  dedication  is  merited  by  my  services 
or  will  in  any  way  aid  your  book.  It  has  already  given 
me  much  pleasure  to  be  of  any  use  to  you,  but  I  think 
it  only  my  duty  to  help  any  one  who  like  yourself  desires 
to  promote  and  extend  the  knowledge  of  Natural 
History,  and  a  few  words  in  your  preface  or  intro- 
duction will  amply  repay  me  for  any  trouble  I  have 
been  at  in  regard  to  your  book. 

If,  however,  you  insist  on  a  regular  dedication,  I 
would  suggest  that  you  should  word  it  somewhat  less 
formally,  and  at  any  rate  substitute  "Dear  Newton" 
or  "Dear  Prof.  N."— for  the  "Dear  Sir"  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  "  Yours  very  truly "  or  "  Yours  truly  and 
obliged  "  for  the  "  Faithfully  yours  "  at  the  end.  This, 
however,  is  only  a  matter  of  taste,  yet  taste  has  so 
much  to  do  with  Dedications  that  on  this  account  I 
often  think  they  are  best  left  alone,  or  rather  left  outf 

Most  of  his  letters  were  written  with   a   definite 


reproved : — "  In  your  letter  you  cite  my  note  in  the '  Catalogue 
~  of  the  '  Dictionary  of  Birds.'     Of  course  this  was  but 
and  being  in  a  private  letter  is  of  no  consequence.     I 
h  you  to  be  careful  not  in  any  publication  to  associate 
with  the  former  of  these  works,  as  I  have  no  wish  to  deprive 
of  the  reputation  it  has  achieved/'   (Letter  to  A.  F.  R.  Wollaston. 
16,  1902.) 

*  Letter  to  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram.  October  23,  1893. 
•f  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  January  15,  1879. 


A  ZOOLOGICAL  ANECDOTE  237 

matter-of-fact  purpose,  and  "  gossipy  "  is  the  last  word 
that  could  be  used  of  them,  but  his  quiet  (if  somewhat 
caustic)  humour  relieved  the  dryness  of  many  a  page. 
He  loved  telling  and  hearing  humorous  stories — Dr. 
Guillemard  remarks  elsewhere  that  he  laughed  with  his 
whole  body — and  he  often  passed  them  on  in  letters  to 
his  friends.  The  following  was  written  as  a  postscript 
to  a  letter  *  to  Mrs.  Hugh  Strickland  dealing  with  the 
legal  terms  of  a  bequest  to  the  Museum  : — 

Here  is  a  zoological  anecdote.  Mr.  G.  X.  is  very 
ugly  and  hairy.  He  went  to  call  at  a  house  a  few  days 
ago  and  found  only  a  little  gill  in  the  drawing-room. 
He  began  to  say  something  civil  to  her  but  she  would 
not  answer.  At  last  he  said,  "  You  don't  know  who  I 
am  ? "  "  Yes,  I  do,"  she  replied,  "  I  gave  you  a  bun  at 
the  Zoological  Gardens  last  Sunday — and,  you  naughty 
man,  you  had  no  clothes  on  !  " 

Newton  wrote  with  a  blunt  quill  pen  a  firm  and 
distinctive,  but  too  often  illegible,  handwriting  which 
frequently  baifled  the  recipients  of  his  letters  : — 

Magd.  Coll., 

May  26,  1892. 

MY  DEAR  POTTER, 

...  I  hope  we  may  see  you  here  one  of 
these  days,  and  you  know  you  will  always  be  welcome 
in  my  rooms.  Poor  Babington  makes  very  little 
progress,  and  I  doubt  whether  he  will  get  about  again. 
His  doctor  assured  me  to-day  that  it  is  only  a  bad  form 
of  gout — a  disease  from  which  his  very  abstemious 
habits  ought  to  have  kept  him  free — but  it  is  said  that 
he  has  been  a  martyr  since  his  marriage  to  sweet 
puddings — so  I  pray  you  to  take  warning  and  believe 
me  to  be, 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

*  July  6,  1878. 


238          WRITING  AND  CONSERVATISM 

Mr.  Potter  replied  that  a  diet  of  suet  puddings  was 
hardly  appropriate  for  a  man  of  Professor  Babington's 
age,  which  drew  from  Newton  a  postcard  : — 

"  Sweet  not  Suet  puddings  have  been  the  bane  of 
C.  C.  B.  The  latter  are  not  only  excellent  but,  in 
moderation,  harmless.  Excuse  my  bad  writing. — A.  N." 

Most  of  his  letter- writing  was  done  in  the  morning 
after  a  late  breakfast.  The  afternoon  he  usually  spent 
in  his  room  at  the  Museum,  and  late  at  night  he  did 
the  greater  part  of  his  writing  : — 

As  for  working  at  night  I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  you 
object  so  much  to  it.  For  the  last  20  years  and  more 
nearly  all  my  best  head  work  (if  any  of  it  has  deserved 
such  an  epithet)  has  been  done  between  10  p.m.  and 
2  a.m.  simply  because  it  is  only  then  that  I  can  ensure 
being  free  from  interruption.  It  is  true  that  one 
might  get  4  hours  in  the  very  early  morning — but  then 
one  must  interfere  with  other  people's  hours  about 
getting  up — servants'  especially — for  I  could  not  under- 
take to  do  anything  without  breakfast  and  a  fire,  and  I 
don't  think  I  am  really  the  worse  on  the  whole  for  my 
early  hours.* 

He  was  almost  meticulously  exact  in  his  writings, 
which  made  him  a  slow  worker,  as  it  took  him  some 
minutes  to  get  up  from  his  chair,  find  a  required 
passage  in  a  book,  and  return  to  his  chair. 

.  .  .  such  reputation  as  I  have  for  accuracy,  and  I 
will  not  pretend  to  say  that  it  is  not  to  some  extent 
deserved.  I  have  from  time  to  time  come  an  "  awful 
howler"  for,  do  what  you  will,  such  things  are  not 
always  to  be  avoided,  f 

The  "  Dictionary  of  Birds,"  with  its  thousands  of 

*  Letter  to  Thomas  Southwell.  January  21,  1888. 
t  Letter  to  R.  Holt- White,  April,  1907. 


PUBLISHERS  239 

references  and  quotations,  represents  an  amount  of 
labour  that  can  hardly  be  computed,  and  the  number 
of  inaccuracies  in  it  is  insignificant.  One  of  his  own 
copies  is  full  of  hundreds  of  notes  in  pencil,  many  of 
considerable  importance,  additions,  suggestions  and 
corrections,  which,  it  may  be  hoped,  will  be  embodied 
some  day  in  a  new  edition. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  Fourth  Edition  of  "  Yarrell," 
mentioned  above,  Newton  was  provokingly  slow  in  the 
preparation  of  the  "Dictionary  of  Birds,"  so  much  so 
that  he  had  a  serious  quarrel  with  his  publishers  about 
the  question  of  payment.  Many  of  his  friends  were 
persuaded  that  he  had  a  good  case  for  going  to  law  with 
them,  but  such  a  course  was  distasteful  to  him,  and 
after  many  delays  the  book  was  completed. 

It  may  readily  be  believed  that  Newton's  habits  of 
delay  were  in  a  high  degree  irritating  to  publishers  and 
other  people  of  business-like  methods.  The  publication 
of  any  book  or  pamphlet  of  his  involved  usually  a 
somewhat  heated  correspondence,  of  explanations  of 
delay  on  his  part,  and  of  protest  on  the  part  of  the 
exasperated  and  long-suffering  publisher.  During  one 
of  these  controversies,  when  he  was  in  the  throes  of 
publication,  he  wrote  : — 

I  may  use  the  words  of  Eli  about  his  wicked  sons 
and  say  it  is  no  good  report  that  I  hear  of  "Messrs. 
X.  and  Y."  ;  but  publishers  I  really  believe  are  all 
scoundrels  alike,  especially  those  of  the  highest  repute. 
One  must  be  dumb  before  the  shearers  because  one 
can't  help  oneself.  They  keep  well  within  the  law, 
which  it  is  their  business  to  know,  but  the  law  enables 
them  to  fleece  their  victims  at  pleasure.  I  have 
forgotten  the  particular  incidents  of  the  opening  of  the 
6th  Seal,  but  I  know  there  is  somewhere  an  uncomfort- 
able place  mentioned  in  which  there  will  no  doubt  be 


240         WEITING  AND  CONSERVATISM 

room  for  publishers,  and  bootmakers,  who  next  to  the 
former  inflict  the  greatest  misery  on  unoffending 
mortals.* 

He  insisted  always  on  a  high  degree  of  accuracy  in 
his  pupils,  greatly  to  their  benefit  in  after  years,  and 
advised  them  always  to  write  down  their  ideas  and 
record  any  interesting  observations.  He  would  often 
himself  copy  pages  out  of  a  book  which  he  did  not 
possess,  for  possible  future  use. 

Don't  give  way  to  the  desire  of  self-advertisement. 
Depend  upon  it  your  opportunities  will  come  of  them- 
selves. But  it  is  a  good  thing  to  write  down  one's 
thoughts,  theories  and  inventions,  though  it  may  be 
years  before  one  uses  them.  What  I  put  into  my 
article  "  Migration "  was  sketched  out  and  in  part 
written  one  night  at  Brussels,  at  least  20  years  before 
I  had  the  chance  of  putting  it  into  the  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica  !  "  f 

As  to  writing  and  tearing  up  what  one  has  written, 
I  take  that  to  be  the  only  way  of  doing  good  work — 
and  even  the  practice  I  have  had  for  fifty  years  does 
not  save  me  from  that  kind  of  thing.  What  I  wrote 
on  Gilbert  White  for  the  "  Diet,  of  Nat.  Biogr."  must 
have  been  written  and  rewritten  three  or  four  times 
at  least,  some  passages  perhaps  less  often,  but  others 
more.  J 

.  .  .  What  I  mean  by  "  revision " — about  which 
you  inquire — I  can  best  explain  by  stating  my  own 
way  of  proceeding.  I  write,  rewrite,  and  again  rewrite, 
everything  I  intend  for  publication — beside  reading 
aloud  to  myself  all  I  have  written  between  the  2nd  and 
the  3rd  writing — and  again  after  the  3rd  writing  is 
done.  It  is  a  tedious  business,  and  apparently  not 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  September  26,  1905. 
t  Letter  to  C.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  March  23,  1901. 
j  Letter  to  R.  Holt-White,  October,  1899. 


STYLE  241 

always  successful — witness  Mr. 's  improvements  (?) 

on  my  article — but  on  the  whole  it  answers,  especially 
the  reading  aloud  to  oneself,  for  I  would  not,  on  any 
account,  have  any  one  to  hear  me.  Another  thing  in 
"  revision  "  which  I  have  found  useful  is  to  get  rid  of 
every  word  (adjectives  especially)  that  has  not  an 
effective  meaning,  and  to  reduce  every  sentence  to  the 
smallest  number  of  words.  Here,  again,  it  seems  from 

Mr. 's  treatment,  I  don't  always  succeed,  and  so 

in  all  humility  I  offer  these  suggestions.  It  more  than 
once  struck  me  in  reading  your  MS.  that  it  was  capable 
of  being  strengthened  in  places  by  omitting  a  word  or 
two  here  and  there,  or  by  recasting  a  sentence.  My 
own  experience  goes  to  show  that  these  emendations 
occur  to  one  when  one  is  reading  aloud,  for  then  the 
ear  tells  one  that  this,  that,  or  the  other  might  be 
bettered.* 

His  own  writings  were  distinguished  by  a  marked 
simplicity  of  style;  every  word  was  well  chosen  and 
seldom  was  one  redundant. 

You  will  see  that  I  have  always  taken  exception  to 
the  use  of  "  central "  as  applied  to  tail  feathers.  I  dare 
say  this  may  be  a  bit  of  pedantry  on  my  part,  but  my 
notion  of  "  centre "  (and  therefore  of  its  adjective) 
always  implies  a  certain  spot  in  a  definite  enclosed 
space,  and  accordingly  the  word  is  inapplicable  to  the 
middle  feathers  of  the  tail,  though  I  am  well  aware 
that  it  is  often  so  used  by  authors  who  don't  care  for 
accuracy.  "  Middle  "  is  a  good  old  plain  English  word 
which  may  well  be  employed  instead,  f 

...  In  the  report  (Migration)  there  are  only  two 
things  other  than  ordinary  composition  "  fads  "  that 
seem  to  need  correction — one  is  "most  of"  into 
"  nearly  all "  because  a  "  most "  occurs  in  the  next 

*  Letter  to  R.  Holt-White,  May  5,  1900. 
t  Letter  to  T.  Southwell,  October  30,  1888. 

R 


242          WRITING  AND  CONSERVATISM 

line,  and  the  other  is  the  misspelling  of  Rossitten,  for 
which  I  must  hold  myself  guilty  in  my  MS. 

B.'s  suggestions  don't  amount  to  much,  and  if  it 
would  gratify  him  might  all  be  adopted — though  I 
should  shorten  his  "  what  may  at  present  be  termed " 
into  "  apparently,"  that  being  vague  enough  for  any- 
thing. I  dislike  "  commence  "  to  do  a  thing — what  is 
the  harm  in  "begin,"  a  word  which  is  going  out  of 
fashion  so  fast  that  the  next  revision  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  likely  to  open  with  the  words  "  In  the  com- 
mencement," etc ! 

I  can  never  see  why  in  serious  writing  Daws  should 
be  nicknamed  Jack.  The  word  did  well  enough  of 
itself  for  Shakespeare,  and  naturalists  do  not  generally 
write  of  Tom  Tits.  Jack- Snipe  is  quite  another  matter, 
and  there  the  prefix  has  a  real  meaning,  though  it  may 
be  of  obscure  origin.* 

Being  endowed  with  a  very  highly  critical  faculty, 
Newton  was  naturally  somewhat  intolerant  of  the  less 
considered  judgments  of  others.  Among  those  who 
came  in  for  his  especial  condemnation  were  (often  very 
undeservedly)  writers  of  "popular"  Natural  History 
and  the  reviewers  of  Natural  History  books. 

For  a  long  while  it  has  been  the  burthen  of  my 
song  that  we  have  more  Natural  History  Journals  than 
the  country  can  afford,  with  the  result  that  the  numer- 
osity  is  not  only  injurious  to  the  Journals  themselves 
but  to  Natural  History  itself,  as  it  lowers  the  tone  of 
the  contributions.  I  wish  I  had  friendly  advice  to  give 
you,  but  I  hardly  know  what  can  be  done.  If  you,  or 
any  other  man  in  your  position  (should  such  there  be), 
were  to  buy  up  one  or  two  of  these  miserable  periodicals 
which  have  no  excuse  for  their  existence,  I  fear  the 
only  effect  would  be  that  successors,  still  less  worthy  of 
support,  would  be  started ;  and  yet  I  know  nothing 
else  that  is  possible. 

*  Letter  to  P.  Knubley,  August  16..  1903. 


REVIEWERS  243 

The  lot  of  rubbishy  naturalists  we  have  about  is 
very  great,  and  the  worst  of  it  is  that  the  people  of  this 
country  like  a  low  class  of  Natural  History  writing 
better  than  a  high  one.  Look  at  the  way  the  most 
wretched  books  sell,  and  the  silly  style  in  which  they 
are  reviewed  !  Editors  of  newspapers  seem  to  think 
anybody  capable  of  reviewing  a  Natural  History  book, 
or  of  writing  a  Natural  History  article.  If  occasionally 
a  competent  critic  does  speak  his  mind,  he  is  put  down 
as  ill-natured  or  as  having  some  private  spite.* 

Natural  History  reviewing  is  one  of  the  lost  arts 
in  this  country.  They  still  practise  it  rather  well  in 
America,  for  the  reviewers  there  seem  to  take  some 
little  trouble  to  learn  what  the  author  has  to  say. 
Here  a  man  only  scribbles  off  a  lot  of  platitudes,  or 
if  he  wants  to  be  nasty  tells  his  readers  what  he  thinks 
the  author  ought  to  have  said.f 

In  spite  of  his  fundamental  devotion  to  accuracy, 
he  was  equally  cautious  in  assertion,  and  he  would 
never,  if  it  could  be  avoided,  allow  himself  to  be  drawn 
into  controversy.  He  was  invited  to  contribute  to  a 
well-worn  discussion  about  the  hibernation  of  the 
Cuckoo. 

0  the  Cuckow,  the  Cuckow  !     What  a  bird  that  is  ! 
I   do  not  completely    "  endorse "    (lingua   Americana] 
Baldamus,  because  it  is  manifest  that  his  statement  is 
not  "  universally  "  but  only  "  approximately  "  true,  and 
this   is   enough.     Quod   scripsi   scripsi,    and   Newman 
means  to  reprint  my  Nature  article  in  the  Zoologist. 

1  have  not  the  slightest  wish  to  take  part  in  a  con- 
troversy which  promises  now,  as  it  proved  to  be  before, 
to  be  productive  of  much  acerbity ;  for  the  editor  of 
Nature  three  years  and  more  ago  sent  me  many  letters 
which   he   had  received   but   never  printed,   and   the 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  October  23,  1887. 
t  Letter  to  T.  Southwell,  February  27,  1902. 


244         WRITING  AND  CONSERVATISM 

violence  with  which  people  expressed  themselves  was 
amusing.  The  Cuckow  is  one  of  the  Englishman's 
divinities,  and  anybody  who  strives  to  dispel  or  explain 
the  mystery  pertaining  thereto  is  supposed  to  be  guilty 
of  profanity.  It  was  this  that  chiefly  made  me  abstain 
from  writing  an  article  on  "  Cuckow's  Dupes  "  which  I 
had  long  been  perpending. 

Dear  old  Hewitson  would  go  at  me  with  still  greater 
fury  than  he  has  exhibited  towards  you.  "Doubt  my 
Cuckow,  doubt  me."  So  that  in  spite  of  your  solicita- 
tions (and  there  are  not  many  of  my  friends  to  whom 
I  would  sooner  listen)  I  must  preserve  my  peace  of 
mind.* 

His  habitual  caution  prevented  him  from  uttering 
theories  about  such  questions  as  Classification  or  Geo- 
graphical Distribution,  and  to  matters  of  philosophical 
speculation  it  may  be  said  that  he  was  almost  in- 
different. 

I  do  not  think  Huxley  can  be  charged  with  coining 
the  word  "  Positivism."  I  have  heard  it  these  20 
years  nearly,  though  I  confess  I  have  never  attached 
any  very  definite  meaning  to  the  word,  or  cared  to 
know  anything  about  M.  Comte,  the  founder  of  the 
system.  I  have  heard  Huxley  call  it  a  kind  of  super- 
stitious infidelity  which  had  all  the  advantages  of 
Popery  without  anything  to  counterbalance  them,  but 
I  am  not  curious  in  these  matters  and,  believing  that 
everything  in  this  world  is  comparative  from  Anatomy 
downwards,  I  have  not  troubled  myself  to  inquire  into 
the  merits  of  a  Positive  Philosophy,  f 

In  politics,  as  one  might  expect,  Newton  was 
staunchly  Tory,  the  old  order  was  the  best  and  changes 
should  be  opposed ;  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  he  was 

*  Letter  to  Rev.  A.  C.  Smith,  April  22,  1873. 
t  Letter  to  Mrs.  Strickland,  June  26,  1869 


POLITICS  245 

ever  actively  concerned  in  politics,  either  national  or  of 
the  University. 

We  are  all  furious  here ;  the  Council  has  refused  to 
allow  a  petition  against  Gladstone's  Bill  to  come  before 
the  Senate,  and  I  believe  we  shall  have  to  nonplacet 
every  Grace  till  the  Council  comes  to  its  senses.  But 
I  do  wish  we  had  a  leader  one  could  respect.  The  last 
squib  though  from  the  other  side  is  good — 

O  Teddy  Perowne  *  is  gone  to  his  own, 
He  is  gone  to  his  own  in  a  chariot, 
On  a  fizzing  hot  plate  he  is  sitting  in  state 
With  Pilate  and  Judas  Iscariot. 

1  It  has  just  struck  me  that  this  is  an  obvious  mistake,  and  for 
"Teddy  P,"  I  should  read  "Billy  Gladstone."— A.  N.* 

When  Lord  Salisbury  went  to  Cambridge  in 
January,  1891,  he  confessed  that  he  had  never  been 
to  a  political  meeting  in  his  life,  and  thought  it  useless 
at  his  time  of  life  to  begin  the  practice  of  attending. 

In  College  politics,  as  well  as  in  greater  affairs,  he 
was  staunchly  conservative,  and  in  the  progressive  days 
at  the  beginning  of  this  century  it  often  happened  that 
he  voted  in  a  minority  of  one.  The  following  instances, 
familiar  to  many  Cambridge  men,  of  his  sturdy  opposi- 
tion to  change  have  been  so  well  told  by  Mr.  Benson 
that  they  may  best  be  given  in  his  own  words : — 

Shortly  after  this  date  (1905)  music  was  introduced 
into  the  service.  There  had  not  been  a  musical  instru- 
ment in  the  chapel  since  1680,  or  any  species  of  music, 
and  the  introduction  of  the  harmonium  was  a  sore  blow 
to  the  Professor,  who  had  hitherto  successfully  resisted 
all  attempts  to  establish  an  organ  in  the  chapel.  When 
hymns  were  introduced,  it  was  an  unfailing  amusement 
to  see  the  Professor  open  a  hymn-book,  and  survey  the 
scene  with  ill-concealed  disgust.  He  used  to  shut  the 

*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  June  6,  1869, 


246         WRITING  AND  CONSERVATISM 

book  with  a  snap  before  the  end,  and  sit  ostentatiously 
down  with  an  air  of  relief.  He  always  said  a  loud 
Amen  at  the  ends  of  the  prayers ;  but  when  the  Master 
introduced  a  little  prayer  for  the  College,  from  the  old 
Compline  Service,  the  Professor  used  to  turn  to  the 
pages  of  his  Prayer-book,  look  round  with  dramatic 
bewilderment,  as  though  he  thought  the  Chaplain  was 
delirious,  and  hold  his  lips  stiffly  sealed  at  the  con- 
clusion, for  fear  he  should  forget  himself  and  add  the 
endorsement  of  an  Amen  to  any  petition  of  so  singular 
a  character. 

On  another  occasion  it  was  proposed  that  ladies 
should  be  admitted,  in  restricted  numbers,  to  the 
chapel  service.  The  discussion  was  amicable,  and  a 
system  was  suggested.  To  my  surprise,  the  Professor 
took  very  little  part,  except  to  interject  an  occasional 
growl ;  but  when  the  motion  was  put  to  the  vote,  the 
old  man  grew  suddenly  white,  and  in  a  voice  strangled 
with  passion  made  a  most  vindictive  speech.  He  said 
that  he  disapproved  of  all  the  alterations  in  the  chapel 
service ;  that  it  was  no  longer  the  least  pleasure  for 
him  to  attend.  Everything  done  or  suggested  was 
utterly  out  of  keeping  with  the  idea  of  a  plain  collegiate 
service.  He  disliked  it  all  from  the  bottom  of  his 
heart ;  and  he  wound  up  by  saying  that  we  might  pass 
what  votes  we  liked,  but  that  if  one  lady  was  admitted 
to  the  chapel  service  he  should  never  set  foot  in  the 
building  again. 

An  embarrassing  scene  occurred  when  one  of  the 
Fellows  asked  leave  that  his  daughter's  marriage  might 
be  celebrated  in  chapel.  The  Professor  exploded  in 
wrath.  He  had  never  heard  such  a  preposterous  sug- 
gestion. A  College  chapel  was  not  intended  for  such 
things  as  weddings ;  the  young  lady  could  have  no 
associations  with  the  place ;  he  regarded  it  as  a  most 
improper  and  entirely  unaccountable  proposal.  On  that 


COLLEGE  POLITICS  247 

occasion  the  rest  of  the  governing  body  were  rather 
indignant  at  the  attitude  of  the  Professor  to  what 
seemed  a  very  reasonable  request,  the  matter  was  put 
to  the  vote,  and  the  chapel  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Fellow  in  question.  At  the  following  College  meeting 
the  Fellow  withdrew  his  request.  His  daughter  had 
been  so  unfortunate  as  to  break  her  leg  while  playing 
lawn  tennis  ;  she  was  to  be  married  quietly  in  the  neigh- 
bouring village  church  as  soon  as  she  could  get  about. 
The  Professor  smiled,  and  said,  with  really  incomparable 
humour,  Solvitur  non  ambulando. 

One  great  scene  took  place  when  an  organ  was 
offered  by  one  of  the  Fellows  to  the  College  chapel.  It 
was  thought  that  the  Professor  would  object  so  strongly 
that  the  proposal  was  deferred.  Eventually,  however, 
it  was  brought  forward.  The  Master  began  by  saying, 
"  I  have  a  proposal  to  make  about  the  chapel,  which  I 
fear  you  will  not  like,  Professor."  The  Professor  flared 
up  and  said,  "  No,  indeed,  I  never  come  here  without 
hearing  something  that  I  dislike  very  much."  The 
offer  was  then  stated,  and  every  one  then  welcomed  it 
with  cordiality  and  enthusiasm.  The  Professor  waited 
till  they  had  done,  and  then,  with  a  little  bow  to  the 
donor,  said,  "  Words  entirely  fail  me  to  express  my 
sense  of  the  generosity  and  public  spirit  which  prompts 
this  offer.  But  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  object  in  toto 
to  music  in  a  College  chapel.  It  is  entirely  out  of  cha- 
racter, and  I  am  therefore  bound  to  oppose  what  I 
believe  to  be  against  the  best  interests  of  the  place." 
The  usual  scene  took  place,  the  Professor  voting  in  a 
minority  of  one.  But  when  the  organ  was  erected,  he 
contrived  to  say  something  pleasant  to  the  giver  about 
its  improving  the  appearance  of  the  chapel* 

As  well  as  of  bootmakers  and  publishers,  Newton 
was  pardonably  impatient  of  Bores  : — 

*  A,  C.  Benson,  Cornhill  Magazine,  June,  1911. 


248          WKITING  AND  CONSERVATISM 

I  always  try  to  love  my  enemies,  but  I  think  it 
can  hardly  be  inconsistent  with  Christian  principles  to 
hate  bores,  seeing  that  the  New  Testament  lays  down 
no  injunction  as  to  how  they  are  to  be  treated,  unless 
by  a  slight  change  of  spelling  they  are  to  be  driven 
down  a  steep  place  to  perish  in  the  water  below.* 

It  is  not  easy  to  avoid  conveying  the  impression  of 
a  fiercely  intolerant  and  prejudiced  man,  impatient  of 
opposition,  and  convinced  of  his  own  unassailable  exact- 
ness. Such  he  might,  and  doubtless  did,  seem  to  some 
on  first  acquaintance,  but,  good  fighter  as  he  was,  and 
hating  innovations,  he  had  the  keenest  sense  of  justice. 
Mr.  A.  C.  Benson  wrote  f  of  him  :  "I  never  saw  a  man 
who  took  a  defeat  better.  He  fought  to  the  last 
moment,  and  when  he  was  outvoted,  he  accepted  the 
situation  gracefully  and  good-humouredly.  I  never 
heard  him  make  any  sort  of  criticism  or  recrimination 
afterwards." 

It  is  not  unkind  to  say  that  he  was  almost  com- 
pletely lacking  in  emotion,  but  under  his  somewhat 
grim  exterior  lay  a  really  warm  heart  and  an  un- 
expected depth  of  affection  for  and  understanding  of 
others.  He  took  a  keen  personal  interest  in  the  young 
men  who  came  to  visit  him,  and  his  judgments  of  their 
capabilities  were  seldom  at  fault : — 

Balfour,J  scholar  of  Trinity,  was  here  last  night; 

*  Letters  to  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram,  September,  1892. 

f  Op.  cit. 

j  Francis  Maitland  Balfour,  born  1851,  Scholar  and  Fellow  of  Trin. 
Coll.  Camb.  Oxford  was  most  anxious  to  gain  him  as  a  successor  to  the 
late  Professor  G.  Rolleston,  and  Edinburgh  made  repeated  efforts  to 
secure  him  for  her  chair  of  Natural  History.  But  he  would  not  leave  his 
own  university,  and  in  recognition  of  his  worth  and  loyalty  a  special  pro- 
fessorship ot  animal  morphology  was,  in  the  spring  of  1882,  founded  for 
him  at  Cambridge.  On  July  18,  1882,  he  and  his  guide  set  out  from 
Courmayeur  to  ascend  the  virgin  peak  of  the  Aiguille  Blanche  de  Peu- 
teret.  They  never  came  back  alive  ("Diet,  of  Nat.  Biography"). 


F.  M.  BALFOUK  249 

second  in  the  First  Class  of  the  Nat.  Sci.  Tripos,  of  this 
year  and  no  doubt  the  next  Fellow  of  Trinity.  Youneer 
brother  of  Balfour  of  Whittingehame.  He  isLeed"^ 
quiet  and  modest.  He  will  be  a  very  great  man,  and  I 
should  be  sorry  to  lose  him  from  Cambridge  He 

?£  nb1m°!!  kn°r  as  a studen*  and  fro^  Ws  researches 


rt  i^  hiSTintereSt  in  y°UnS  zool°gkts  cease  when 
they  left  the  University.  Most  of  them  came  back  at 
one  time  or  another  to  see  him  at  Cambridge,  and  he 
was  always  generous  in  giving  help  and  advice  to  his 
mends : — 

I  don't  say  you  are  wasting  time  over  Palsearctic 
mammals  It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  man  to  have  a 
special  subject,  of  which  he  can  become  master;  but 
the  more  he  is  able  to  generalise  the  better,  and  this 
especially  m  the  matter  of  travel  and  observation  in 
foreign  countries.  Hence  my  great  regret  that  you  are 
not  going  with  Skeat  who  (by  the  way)  was  here  last 
night.  A  twelvemonth  in  the  Tropics  could  not  fail  to 
do  you  a  world  of  good.  I  know  what  a  benefit  it  was 
ior  me  to  have  been  six  months  and  more  in  the  West 
Indies.  A  journey  to  Siberia  would,  of  course,  be  very 
profitable  to  you;  but  it  would  not  enlarge  your  view 
as  to  Nature  in  the  same  way  that  working  in  the 
Malay  Peninsula  would. 

I  always  regret  that  I  did  not  do  more  in  the 
travelling  way,  but  various  obstacles  presented  them- 
selves I  ought  to  have  gone  to  the  Cape  and  to  Aus- 
tralia, to  say  nothing  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  \ 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  August  17,  1874, 

t  Letter  to  G  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  January  19,  1899. 


CHAPTER  XV 

WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

FEOM  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  Professorship  of 
Zoology  in  1866  until  the  end  of  his  life,  Newton  never 
left  Cambridge  for  more  than  a  few  weeks  at  a  time, 
and  for  the  greater  part  of  that  time,  until  within  a  few 
years  of  his  death,  when  he  appointed  Mr.  William 
Bateson,  F.R.S.,  to  be  his  deputy,  he  delivered  a  course 
of  lectures  in  two  terms  of  every  year. 

I  began  holding  forth  to-day  and  had  a  pretty  good 
audience— 30  or  40  at  least— and  14  men  were  kind 
enough  to  inscribe  their  names  on  a  board,  which  means 
as  many  pounds  in  my  pocket !  I  gave  them  some  very 
heretical  notions  (according  to  some  people's  ideas)  but 
wrapped  up  so  judiciously  that  I  believe  even  Clayton 
would  not  have  been  shocked.* 

Dr.  Shipley  has  mentioned  in  another  chapter 
(p.  104),  Newton's  apparent  shyness  in  lecturing  :  this 
was  probably  an  expression  not  so  much  of  shyness  as 
of  a  strong  distaste  for  the  business  of  lecturing. 

If  I  could  afford  it  I  would  to-morrow  give  up  part  of 
my  salary  to  pay  a  lecturer  who  would  be  more  com- 
petent than  myself,  and  such  a  man  I  could  find  easily 
enough,  because  I  know  that  I  am  one  of  the  worst  of 
lecturers.     In  the   first  place,   I   never  found   myself 
getting  any  real  good  from  lectures  when  I  had  to  liste 
to  them,  and  disbelieve  totally  in  them.     A  man  wh< 
does  believe   in   them  might,  or  assuredly  would,  d< 
*  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  October  22,  1866. 


ZOOLOGICAL  TEACHING  251 

better  than  one  who  does  not.  Of  course,  lecturing  is 
anything  but  the  chief  part  of  my  duties,  as  I  under- 
stand them,  and  the  rest  I  flatter  myself  I  perform 
decently.* 

When  the  teaching  of  Zoology  in  the  University  was 
considerably  changed  about  the  year  1884,  after  the 
death  of  Francis  Balfour,  Newton  went  to  the  trouble  of 
writing  a  course  of  lectures  on  Geographical  Distribution, 
and  another  course  on  Evidences  of  Evolution.  They 
were  very  correct,  painstaking  lectures,  but  unfortu- 
nately he  found  that  they  would  not  stretch  over  a 
whole  term  each,  of  three  lectures  a  week.  He 
announced  that  he  would  lecture  on  Monday,  Wednes- 
day, and  Friday  at  twelve  oclock,  but  year  after  year 
he  told  the  class  that  next  Monday  he  would  unfortu- 
nately not  be  able  to  lecture  owing  to  urgent  business ; 
and  this  would  continue  throughout  the  term.  He 
went  instead  on  a  weekly  tour  of  inspection  of  some 
farms  with  the  College  Bursar,  his  friend  F.  Pattrick. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  he  put  little  value  on  lectures 
as  a  means  of  teaching.  What  he  thought  of  the 
University  course  of  zoological  studies,  or  what  he 
would  have  liked  to  see  substituted  for  it,  is  not  so 
plain  to  see. 

A  course  of  Elementary  Zoology  is  undoubtedly  a 
good  thing  and  I  wish  there  had  been  such  a  thing  in 
my  younger  days,  but  my  experience  of  it  here  is  that 
it  is  very  apt  to  disgust  or  at  least  dishearten  the  man 
who  is  by  nature  a  zoologist.  If  he  can  stand  it,  all  the 
better  for  him  ;  but  it  is  only  a  groundwork,  and  the 
mistake  so  many  people  make  is  that  after  they  have 
gone  through  the  course  they  think  they  are  finished 
zoologists,  f 

*  Letter  to  Mrs.  Strickland,  March  18,  1874. 
t  Letter  to  N.  B.  Kinnear,  February  13,  1907. 


252  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

He  never  ceased  to  lament  his  lack  of  an  early 
training  in  Zoology,  and  quite  unjustly  accused  him- 
self of  narrow-mindedness.  Such  a  charge  could  never 
be  brought  against  the  man  who  encouraged  F.  M. 
Balfour  in  1875  to  establish  a  class  in  Morphology,  a 
subject  of  which  he  (Newton)  was  quite  without  know- 
ledge ;  he  gave  up  his  own  private  room  in  the  Museum 
to  Balfour's  class,  and  did  everything  he  could  to 
promote  its  success. 

The  narrow-mindedness  of  which  I  accuse  myself  has 
reference  to  other  branches  of  science  than  Ornithology  ; 
in  that  I  believe  I  have  always  been  fairly  afield,  and  if 
I  had  only  had  anything  of  a  scientific  education,  such 
as  boys  and  young  men  nowadays  so  easily  get,  I  dare 
say  I  should  have  been  more  tolerant  of  conchologists 
and  such  like.  You  may  imagine  what  a  grind  it  was 
when,  at  37,  I  had  to  get  up  the  animal  kingdom  for 
myself  and  by  myself  in  order  to  teach  its  nature  to 
others  !  I  often  wonder  if  some  of  my  earlier  pupils 
remember  the  astonishing  blunders  I  know  I  used  to 
make.  Fortunately,  very  few  of  my  classes  knew  any- 
thing about  the  subject,  and  I  used  to  contrive  to  make 
some  of  those  that  did  teach  me.* 

He  admitted  frankly  that  the  study  of  the  Invertebrata 
had  little  attraction  for  him,  and  he  heaved  a  sigh  of 
relief  when  in  the  course  of  his  lectures  he  reached  more 
congenial  Orders. 

November  23,  1877. 
MY  DEAR  LlLFORD, 

I  have  been  busying  myself,  as  usual  at  this 
time  of  the  year,  with  animals  very  unlike  birds ;  going 
through  the  customary  course  of  Invertebrates  and,  as 
in  each  preceding  year,  becoming  convinced  of  the 
hopelessness  of  anybody  being  able  to  comprehend  the 
length  and  breadth  and  depth  of  them.  These 
*  Letter  to  Col.  H.  W.  Feilden,  June  26,  1886. 


MR.  PERKINS  AND  THE  DUKE         253 

qualities  would  puzzle  even  Solomon  himself  had  he 
lived  to  these  our  days,  only,  like  the  wise  man  he  was, 
he  judiciously  expired  before  Comparative  Anatomy 
was  invented,  and  so  escaped  the  difficulty.  I  look 
forward,  however,  to  reach  my  paradise  of  Birds  once 
more  some  time  next  week  and  then,  for  anything  I 
care,  the  "  slimy  things  "  may  "  crawl  upon  the  slimy 
sea"  just  as  they  did  in  the  presence  of  the  Ancient 
Mariner,  until  October  next. 

Meantime  Ornithology  with  me  has  been  almost  at 
a  standstill ;  nothing  seems  to  have  occurred  worth 
thinking  about,  nor  have  I  heard  of  any  shooting  to 
deserve  putting  on  paper.  The  most  sporting  character 
(observe  the  accent)  in  the  University,  namely  the 
tutor  of  Downing,  has  nearly  sent  himself  out  of  this 
world  by  trying  to  extract  a  thorn  from  his  knee  with 
a  knife  that  he  had  used  a  few  days  before  for  cutting 
off  a  fox's  brush,  without  cleaning  the  blade.  Not 
only  his  life  but  his  limb  has  been  saved,  but  he  has 
lost  his  liberty,  and  we  the  stories  that  are  generally 
current  about  his  sayings  and  doings  at  this  time  of 
year.  Not  many  seasons  ago  the  Duke  of  Cambridge 
hired  the  shooting  at  Six  Mile  Bottom,  which  used  to 
be  Genl.  Hall's,  and  as  there  are  certain  enclaves  of 
Downing  property  therein,  he  was  advised  to  continue 
the  General's  policy  of  inviting  some  representative  of 
that  college  to  shoot.  He  did  so,  and  this  man  went. 
When  they  stopped  for  luncheon  the  bodily  wants  of 
H.R.H.  were  attended  to  before  those  of  any  one  else, 
and  this  Jack  Perkins  thought  bad  manners  ;  so  he 
exclaimed  :  "  Why,  Highness,  if  you  came  to  shoot 
with  me  I  should  help  you  first ;  and  when  I  come  to 
shoot  with  you,  I  think  you  ought  to  treat  me  in  the 
same  way."  I  believe  he  has  not  since  had  the 
opportunity  of  being  "  helped." 

Pardon  me  all  this  twaddle,  and  believe  me, 
Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 


254  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

While  I  think  of  it.  I  heard  one  of  the  best  bulls 
yesterday.  An  Irishwoman  giving  evidence  about  her 
husband,  strongly  in  his  favour,  was  at  last  asked,  "  Is 
he  a  faithful  husband  ?  "  and  answered,  "  Bedad,  then 
for  that  I  couldn't  say,  sor,  for  my  last  child  was  not 
his  at  all."  Ponder  this. — A.  N. 

To  the  end  of  his  life  Newton  always  protested  that 
lecturing  was  quite  out  of  his  line,  and  when  he  was 
dying  he  insisted  on  his  nephew  Charles  burning 
bundle  after  bundle  of  lecture  notes,  lest  they  should 
fall  into  the  hands  of  some  misguided  person,  who 
might,  perhaps,  publish  them  under  his  name. 

But  the  necessary  course  of  professional  lectures 
took  very  far  from  a  first  place  in  his  activities.  His 
friend  and  former  colleague  at  the  Museum,  Mr.  J.  W. 
Clark,  wrote  of  him  : — 

From  the  first  day  of  his  election  Newton  took  a 
keen  interest  in  the  Museum,  using  this  word  in  its 
widest  sense.  He  was  absolutely  catholic  in  his  views. 
Ornithology  was  his  pet  child ;  but  all  the  other 
members  of  the  Museum  family  were  treated  by  him 
with  affectionate  regard,  even  down  to  the  preparations 
of  organs  in  spirit — which  he  never  really  liked,  but 
submitted  to  as  necessities.  He  made  his  friends  and 
wide  circle  of  acquaintances  help  him  in  the  acquisition 
of  specimens  from  all  quarters  of  the  world ;  and  the 
rapid  development  of  our  collections  is  largely  due  to 
his  energy.  Without  him  we  should  never  have  had 
the  skeleton  of  the  Extinct  Manatee  (Rhytina),  the 
White  Rhinoceros,  the  Extinct  Ox  (Bos  primigenius), 
and  many  other  rarities.* 

The  skeleton  of  the  Bos  primigenius  mentioned  by 
Mr.  J.  W.  Clark  came  from  Burwell  Fen,  between 
Cambridge  and  Ely. 

*  Cambridge  Review,  June  13,  1907. 


CHARLES  KINGSLEY  255 

Nothing  new  of  importance,  except  that  I  have  got 
through  William  nearly  an  entire  skeleton  of  the  most 
lovely  Bos  primigenius,  which  I  intend  shall  be  the 
envy  of  the  world.  I  am  going  to  have  a  further 
search  made  for  the  missing  bones,  but  as  it  is  it  is 
wonderfully  perfect.  Such  a  monster  !  He  was  quite 
at  the  bottom  of  the  peat  resting  on  the  clay  and  must 
therefore  have  come  to  his  end  in  very  early  days. 
Also  there  could  have  been  no  wolves  or  foxes  about  or 
they  would  have  run  off  with  some  of  the  small  bones 
— whereas  we  have  7  out  of  the  9  tail  vertebrse  and 
the  bones  of  the  tongue  (hyoid).  I  got  it,  too,  very 
cheap,  which  is  an  additional  advantage.  A  neigh- 
bouring curate  hearing  that  the  men  were  digging  up  a 
bull  came  after  it  for  the  Bury  Museum  while  William 
was  there  and  had  the  head  in  a  cart  covered  with  a 
sack.  His  reverence  tried  to  make  the  men  discon- 
tented, but  William  held  his  peace.* 

One  of  the  friends  who  was  always  ready  to  help 
him  in  acquiring  specimens  for  the  Museum  was  another 
Magdalene  man,  Charles  Kingsley,  who  wrote  after  a 
voyage  to  the  West  Indies  in  the  winter  of  1869-70 : — 

March  10,  1870. 

MY  DEAR  NEWTON, 

Your  letter  explains.  I  wrote  a  long  letter 
to  Clark  the  day  after  I  came  back,  bidding  him  send 
it  on  to  you  and  sending  you  messages,  and  had  no 
answer. 

I  have  brought  all  I  could  get.  Snakes  (some  very 
rare)  and  bats.  The  niggers  have  shot  all  the  birds. 

I  asked  Clark,  or  you,  to  come  hither,  or  both  if  you 
could,  see  us,  and  see  what  you  wanted  to  carry  off. 
They  are  few,  but  more  are  coming.  If  you  will  let 
me  know  whether  you  can  come  or  not,  I  will  write 

*  Letter  to  Mrs.  Strickland,  April  25,  1874. 


256  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

more  fully.     We   had  no  opportunity  of   using  your 
kind  introduction  at  St.  Thomas'. 

The  West  Indies  are  a  neglected  Paradise.     What 
fools  human  beings  are — specially  English  ! 

Ever  yours, 

C.    KlNGSLEY. 

P.S. — I  have,  I  hope,  opened  a  regular  trail  ^from 
the  West  Indies  to  the  Museum. 

Kingsley  was  for  many  years  a  close  friend  and  a 
frequent,  but  illegible,  correspondent  of  Newton,  who 
suggested  to  him  the  references  to  the  Great  Auk  in 
"Water  Babies."  The  following  characteristic  letter 
was  with  difficulty  deciphered  : — 

Eversley  Rectory, 

June  4,  1867. 

MY  DEAR  NEWTON, 

Your  bird  books  are  delightful.  Gladly 
would  I  give  up  History  to  think  of  nothing  but  dicky 
birds :  but  it  must  not  be — yet. 

Some  day,  ere  I  grow  too  old  to  think,  I  trust  to  be 
able  to  throw  away  all  pursuits  save  Natural  History, 
and  die  with  my  mind  full  of  God's  facts  instead  of 
man's  lies. 

Yours  ever, 

C.  KINGSLEY. 

On  the  back  of  this  letter  Newton  wrote  : — 

Froude  informs  the  Scottish  youth 
That  parsons  have  no  care  for  truth. 
The  Reverend  Canon  Kingsley  cries 
That  history  is  a  pack  of  lies. 

What'cause  for  judgment  so  malign  ? 

A  brief  reflexion  solves  the  mystery. 
For  Froude  thinks  Kingsley  a  divine, 

And  Kingsley  goes  to  Froude  for  history.* 


*  These  verses  are  quoted  in  Froude's  obituary  notice  in  the  Times 
of  October  22,  1894,  and  are  there  attributed  to  "the  present  Bishop  of 
Oxford  [Stubbs]." 


INTEREST  IN  UNDERGRADUATES       257 

Another  of  his  activities,  though  necessarily  less 
public  than  those  already  mentioned,  was  his  practical 
help  to  young  men  who  may  have  attended  his  lectures 
or  his  Sunday  evenings,  in  their  efforts  to  obtain  work 
after  leaving  the  University.  The  editor  of  this 
memoir  has  received  at  least  a  score  of  letters  from 
people  who  have  asked  him  to  record  Newton's  sympa- 
thetic help  to  them,  often  unsolicited,  when  they  were 
making  their  first  flights  from  Cambridge.  The  fol- 
lowing letter,  written  to  a  young  graduate  already 
embarked  on  the  career  of  Medicine,  would  almost  have 
persuaded  most  people  to  follow  the  unprofitable  (in  a 
worldly  sense)  line  of  zoological  research  : — 

I  suppose  I  ought  to  congratulate  you  also  on  win- 
ning the  Surgical  Scholarship,  and  if  it  makes  you  any 
the  happier  I  would  do  so ;  but  I  do  view  with  jealousy 
anything  that  binds  you  closer  to  your  "  profession,"  a 
very  good  and  noble  one  I  admit  it  to  be,  but  I  would 
much  rather  see  you  devoted  to  Zoological  Science,  in 
which  the  harvest  is  plenteous  and  the  reapers,  so  far  as 
1  can  see  them,  so  few. 

I  have  the  highest  opinion  of  Lord  Lister,  but  I 
would  far  sooner  be  a  John  Hunter  or  a  Cuvier.  The 
professional  man  is  very  good,  but  the  unprofessional, 
with  no  other  aim  than  that  of  advancing  knowledge,  is 
far  better,  and  there  are,  unfortunately,  so  few  men 
comparatively  who  can  follow  science  (as  I  believe  you 
can)  regardless  of  professional  success,  the  plain  English 
of  which  is  fees ! 

However,  we  must  be  thankful  for  what  we  get,  and 
if  a  professional  man  of  first-rate  ability  will  but  occa- 
sionally devote  a  little  of  his  spare  time  to  purely 
scientific  (and  unpaying)  questions,  we  ought  to 
applaud  him,  and  be  grateful  lor  the  small  mercy.* 

*  Letter  to  P.  H.  Bahr  (now  Dr.  P.  Manson-Bahr),  March  26,  1907. 

S 


258  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

A  duty  in  the  University  which  fell  to  him  very 
soon  after  his  election  to  the  Professorship  of  Zoology 
was  that  of  Chairman  of  the  Special  Board  of  Biology 
and  Geology,  which  he  occupied  with  conspicuous  suc- 
cess for  many  years. 

As  to  my  Chairmanship  of  the  Special  Board  to 
which  I  belong,  I  was  chosen  to  it  years  ago,  and  in 
every  year  I  have  made  a  bond  fide  offer  to  make  way 
for  anybody  who  would  like  to  take  my  place  ;  but 
they  seem  to  think  my  government  divides  them  the 
least,  and  so  I  am  suffered  to  remain — perhaps  as  a 
King  Log !  But  I  am  bound  to  say  that  we  are  a  most 
harmonious  body,  and  my  subjects  are  content  to  dis- 
cuss matters  peacefully.  We  do  discuss  I  can  assure 
you  (and  on  Saturday  I  sat  for  nearly  4  hours),  but 
as  becomes  philosophers.  In  other  Boards  I  under- 
stand this  is  not  so,  and  personal  wrangles  (to  us 
unknown)  are  frequent.  Seriously  speaking,  the  self- 
abnegation  of  our  biologists — many  of  them,  be  it 
borne  in  mind,  young  men  of  ambition  only  equalled 
by  their  capacity — in  regard  to  the  interests  of  the 
University,  hampered  as  they  now  are  by  financial  diffi- 
culties, is  beyond  any  praise  that  I  can  bestow.* 

A  Cambridge  institution  in  which  he  always  took  a 
keen  interest  was  the  A. B.C.,  more  particularly  when 
a  Greek  play  was  to  be  given.  Mr.  A.  C.  Benson,  the 
present  Master  of  Magdalene,  writing  in  the  Cornhill 
Magazine,^  recalls  his  first  meeting  with  Newton  during 
a  rehearsal  of  the  Birds  of  Aristophanes  in  1883  : — 

We,  the  performers,  were  sitting  about  in  full  dress 
at  one  of  the  last  rehearsals,  when  a  strongly-built  man 
of  about  fifty,  leaning  heavily  on  a  stick,  with  a  brisk 
alert  face  and  bushy  grey  side -whiskers,  came  into  the 

*  Letter  to  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram,  November  26,  1888. 
f  June,  1911. 


Sketch  by  C.  M.  Sen-ton. 


THE    PROFESSOR. 


GREEK  PLAY  259 

room  with  one  of  the  Committee.  He  seemed  to  me  to 
bristle  with  decision  and  alertness.  He  wore  an  old- 
fashioned  tall  top-hat,  very  high  in  the  crown,  with  a 
flat  brim  ;  and  a  short  full-skirted  tail  coat.  He  looked 
sharply  from  bird  to  bird,  and  then  said  suddenly, 
"  That  scarlet  Ibis  is  all  wrong ;  the  head  ought  not 
to  be  scarlet — it  is  preposterously  absurd ;  it  must  be 
darkened  at  once." 

The  Ibis  was  the  headgear  of  a  friend  of  mine, 
Willy  Boyle,  an  extremely  good-natured,  able,  rather 
indolent  Eton  man,  with  much  musical  ability.  He 
took  off  the  head.  It  was  a  pleasing  object,  made  of  a 
long-haired  rough  red  plush,  with  a  curved  black  beak 
and  large,  shining,  roguish  black  eyes,  represented  by 
means  of  a  sort  of  glazed  metal  stud. 

Some  paint  was  brought,  and  Professor  Newton 
daubed  over  the  bird-head  with  it,  giving  a  dusky 
draggled  air.  The  owner  looked  on  ruefully.  The 
Professor  said  >  sharply  :  "  There  ;  that  is  better  now, 
but  it  is  still  ridiculous.  An  Ibis  with  a  scarlet  head ! 
Whoever  heard  of  such  nonsense?  "  It  was  not  better 
at  all ;  it  was  much  worse,  though  perhaps  it  was 
ornithologically  correct ;  but  it  sacrificed  a  pretty  point 
of  colour.  .  .  .  That  was  my  only  sight  of  the  Professor 
at  that  date.  He  seemed  to  me  to  be  decided,  brisk, 
peremptory,  not  very  good-natured,  not  a  man  to 
oppose  in  any  way. 

Newton  wrote  to  his  friend  Lord  Lilford  about  the 
same  production  of  the  Birds : — 

December  4,  1883. 

MY  DEAR  LILFORD, 

I  suppose  Aristophanes  had  not  a  much  more 
definite  notion  of  an  Ibis  than  he  had  of  a  Phoenix. 
He  had  heard  of  both  and  so  mentioned  their  names. 
The  great  drawback  to  the  performance  here  was  the 
very  small  size  of  the  stage.  Had  there  been  room  for 
the  men  to  stand,  the  members  of  the  chorus  should 


260  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

(and  would)  have  been  doubled.  As  it  was  they  were 
crowded  so  as  to  interfere  with  the  effect,  and  their 
wings  had  to  be  made  so  short  as  to  seem  ridiculous. 
But  it  is,  I  am  sure,  a  mistake  to  attempt  a  Greek 
comedy.  It  was  pitiable  to  see  an  educated  audience 
convulsed  with  laughter  just  because  one  fellow  is 
giving  the  stick  to  another,  and  there  is  a  great  deal 
of  stick  work  in  the  play.  No  one  enjoys  more  than 
I  do  seeing  the  clown  pursuing  a  policeman  with  a  red- 
hot  poker  and  any  rough  work  of  the  kind  in  a  panto- 
mime, because  it  is  according  to  nature — otherwise  the 
red-hot  poker  would  not  have  been  there — but  it  does 
not  seem  natural  for  Greeks  to  indulge  in  common 
buffoonery.  It  grated  upon  one's  ears  to  hear  the  men 
laugh  in  English ;  one  expected  that  they  should  have 
done  it  differently  and  I  would  have  had  them  laugh  in 
Greek  if  that  were  possible.  .  .  . 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

Twenty  years  later  the  Birds  was  played  again  at 
Cambridge,  and  Newton  was  much  vexed  by  the  pro- 
ducers' attempt  to  introduce  the  Scarlet  Ibis,  the  Rosy 
Spoonbill  and  the  Blue  Jay,  all  American  birds,  in  place 
of  the  more  sombre  members  of  their  families  known  to 
Aristophanes. 

Simultaneously  the  Greek  play  The  Birds  is  coming 
on  this  next  week,  and  I  am  going  to  a  rehearsal  of  it 
to-night.  The  last  time  they  did  it,  they  made  a  very 
pretty  thing  of  it,  and  I  hope  this  time  it  will  be  as 
good.  I  have  had  some  trouble  to  stop  the  appearance 
of  a  Platalea  ajaja  in  the  chorus,  just  as  on  the  last 
occasion  I  had  with  Ibis  rubra,  which,  as  I  dare  say  you 
know,  is  in  the  popular  mind  the  Sacred  Ibis.  I  re- 
member a  picture  painted  by  an  R.A.  in  which  it  was 
introduced  in  the  courtyard  of  an  Egyptian  temple, 
with  Pharaoh's  daughter  or  Potiphar's  wife  feeding  it !  * 

*  Letter  to  G.  E.  H,  Barrett-Hamilton,  November  21,  1903. 


HOSPITALITY  261 

The  Birds  are  doing  beautifully.  To  my  disgust 
they  dressed  the  Jay  after  Cyanurus  cristatus  instead 
of  the  Greek  form  of  Garrulus  glandarius.  It  does  not 
so  much  matter  as  people  take  it  for  a  Roller,  which 
it  might  well  be  had  the  ancients  known  that  bird, 
and  it  seems  as  if  they  didn't,  at  least  they  never 
mentioned  it.* 

It  was,  however,  in  his  own  rooms  in  College,  the 
old  Master's  Lodge,  that  Newton's  influence  was  most 
widely  felt.  There  he  was  at  home  to  his  friends  every 
Sunday  evening  during  term  time.  After  crossing  the 
bridge  and  passing  the  gate  of  Magdalene  you  came 
immediately  to  what  appeared  to  be  a  stable  entrance 
to  a  slippery  and  stony  yard.  Across  the  yard  was  a 
narrow  and  ugly  door,  through  which,  after  struggling 
with  a  recalcitrant  bell,  you  were  admitted  into  a  dark 
passage  leading  into  the  Professor's  rooms.  Newton 
delighted  in  hospitality  and  nearly  always  invited  one 
or  more  friends  to  dine  with  him  on  Sunday.  If  it  was 
your  fortune  to  be  a  guest,  you  were  bidden,  rain  or 
no  rain,  to  leave  your  College  cap  in  his  rooms,  and 
then  you  proceeded — "processed  "  is  rather  the  word — 
with  him  across  the  garden  and  through  the  hall  to  the 
high  table.  Dinner  was  a  heavy  and  thoroughly  British 
affair  of  roast  beef  or  turkey  and  plum  pudding,  which 
may  have  become  irksome  to  the  Fellows  of  the  College, 
who  perforce  dined  there  regularly,  but  it  was  interest- 
ing to  the  infrequent  visitor,  who  found  that  it  agreed 
well  enough  with  the  setting,  and  there  was  a  charm 
about  Newton's  courtly  action  of  "  taking  a  glass  of 
wine  "  with  his  guest  and  with  others  up  and  down  the 
table,  which  none  of  them  is  likely  to  forget.  The  con- 
versation was  sometimes  almost  startlingly  in  keeping 

*  Letter  to  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-HamUton,  November  27,  1903. 


262  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

with  the  dinner,  and  the  present  writer  will  always 
remember  one  night  in  a  Long  Vacation  when  he  dined 
alone  at  the  high  table  with  the  Professor  and  the 
Master,  Neville.*  We,  or  rather  they,  talked  of  the 
Bedchamber  Plot  as  of  an  affair  of  yesterday,  and  the 
bewildered  guest  began  to  have  doubts  about  his  own 
sobriety.  After  dinner  an  adjournment  was  made  on 
Sundays  to  the  Combination  Room.1  This  involved  a 
steep  climb  up  a  rather  slippery  wooden  staircase,  but 
Newton  always  refused  assistance,  preferring  the  use  of 
his  two  sticks.  It  is  (or  was)  the  custom  to  take  the 
dessert  and  port  wine  sitting  at  small  tables  about  the 
fire-place,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  junior  Fellow  to  see 
that  the  wine  is  passed  and  so  on.  When  many  guests 
were  present  the  decanter  was  apt  to  get  delayed  in  its 
progress,  and  Mr.  Benson  records  that  "  the  Master 
once  innocently  suggested  that  for  a  change  we  should 
sit  round  the  big  oval  table.  The  Professor  was  speech- 
less with  indignation,  and  sate  sullenly  through  the 
proceeding,  scarcely  opening  his  mouth  except  to  say 
that  he  would  hardly  have  known  the  place." 

Nothing  vexed  him  more  than  innovations  :  what 
was  the  custom  in  that  place  was  right,  and  there  was 
no  more  to  be  said.  But  he  was  always  genial  and  full 
of  talk,  and  after  a  second  glass  of  port  wine  he  departed 
with  his  guests  to  his  rooms.  There  you  would  find  a 
blaze  of  gas  (to  this  was  added  in  later  years  electric 
light),  a  semicircle  of  not  very  comfortable  chairs  set 
about  the  fire,  which  was  nearly  always  lighted,  and  a 
tray  containing  cups  and  a  pot  of  the  strongest  brew 
of  coffee. 

Whilst  the  Professor  was  changing  into  a  thin,  black 
coat  made  of  a  sort  of  cashmere  material,  which  he  wore 

*  Latimer  Neville,  7th  Lord  Braybrooke,  Master  of  Magdalene,  1853- 
1904. 


THE  OLD  LODGE  263 

on  these  occasions,  the  guests  had  time  to  look  about 
the  two  rooms  that  were  visible  to  the  ordinary  visitor, 
and  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  was  little  that  was 
pleasing  to  the  eye.  The  walls,  so  far  as  one  could  see 
them,  were  covered  with  an  ugly  drab-coloured  wall- 
paper, the  floors  with  threadbare  carpets,  and  the 
furniture  lacked  beauty.  Everywhere  were  books,  on 
the  tables  and  chairs,  on  the  floor  and  in  book-cases 
about  most  of  the  walls.  Piles  of  papers  and  bundles 
of  letters  were  on  the  top  of  the  books,  and  one  might 
think  that  the  disorder  was  complete,  but  the  Professor 
knew  where  everything  was,  and  when  some  point  arose, 
which  demanded  a  reference,  as  often  happened,  he  went 
unerringly  to  the  right  spot.  One  or  two  water-colours, 
a  few  rather  dingy  portraits  hung  high  on  the  wall, 
and  a  beautiful  drawing  of  a  Gye-Falcon  by  Wolf 
were  all  the  pictures  that  the  book-cases  allowed.  An 
adventurous  visitor  who  looked  into  the  Professor's 
bedroom  would  have  seen  a  huge  four-post  bed,  and  if 
he  got  so  far  as  the  spare  bedroom,  the  "  Cowshed  "  as 
it  was  called — it  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  old  cow- 
house of  the  Master's  Lodge — he  would  have  received 
an  impression  of  a  brilliant  blue  wall-paper  and  of  little 
else.  It  must  be  confessed  that  Newton  had  little  or 
no  sense  of  the  beautiful,  at  least  as  it  appears  to  the 
younger  generation. 

Coming  back  to  the  inner  room,  where  the  coffee 
was  set  out,  one  would  find  the  Professor  sitting  in  a 
tolerably  easy  chair  just  inside  the  door  :  beside  him  a 
table  on  which  were  a  cup  of  tea,  a  blue  porcelain  jar 
of  tobacco,  several  pipes,  a  box  of  Russian  cigarettes, 
and  a  number  of  half-sheets  of  paper,  of  which  he  made 
innumerable  spills  during  the  course  of  the  evening. 
He  seldom  used  matches,  and  preferred  to  light  his  pipe 
with  a  spill  from  the  fire.  This,  for  a  heavy  man  with 


264  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

two  lame  legs,  was  a  toilsome  business  and  involved 
much  exertion  in  hoisting  himself  out  of  the  chair  and 
returning  to  it  again,  but  he  resented  assistance  in  such 
things.  A  stranger,  unaccustomed  to  his  ways,  who 
ventured  to  offer  him  a  lighted  spill,  was  rewarded  with 
a  piercing  glance  and — "  You're  very  good  (a  favourite 
phrase  of  his),  but  I  can  help  myself." 

Between  nine  o'clock  and  midnight  the  cracked 
door-bell  would  ring  at  intervals,  and  from  half  a  dozen 
to  twenty  visitors  would  come  to  see  the  Professor  : 
undergraduates  and  dons,  old  Cambridge  men,  travellers, 
men  of  all  ages  and  conditions.  Conversation  was 
general,  and  though  it  was  often  of  a  scientific  kind, 
it  was  by  no  means  so  always.  The  Professor  delighted 
in  humorous  stories,  which  he  often  told  exceedingly 
well,  and  he  had  an  abundant  store  of  reminiscences  of 
people.  Like  many  men  of  respectable  stock  he  had  a 
high  appreciation  of  "  family,"  and  he  often  knew  more 
of  his  visitors'  family  histories  than  they  knew  them- 
selves. As  somebody  said,  all  genealogists  are  related 
to  each  other. 

If  he  liked  successful  and  distinguished  people,  he 
was  equally  glad  to  see  those  who  had  not  yet  made 
their  mark  in  the  world  and  to  help  them,  if  it  were  in 
his  power  to  do  so.  When  sons  or  relations  of  any  of 
his  old  friends  came  up  to  the  University,  he  was  at 
pains  to  seek  them  out,  and  he  was  genuinely  dis- 
appointed if  they  did  not  come  to  see  him. 

I  feel  inclined  to  quarrel  with  you  for  not  having 
put  me  in  the  way  of  knowing  "  young  Candler."  He 
came  to  my  rooms  on  Sunday  night,  brought  by  a 
young  Jesse,  son  of  the  Abyssinian  man,  who  has  been 
equally  culpable  in  not  letting  me  know  sooner  of  his 
existence.  Candler  seems  a  very  good  sort  of  fellow 
indeed.  I  hope  he  liked  his  evening  and  will  let  me  see 


SUNDAY  EVENINGS  265 

more  of  him.  It  is  a  real  pleasure  to  me  to  know  men, 
especially  young  men,  of  this  kind.  I  know  by  my 
own  feelings  what  benefit  I  should  have  got,  if  in  my 
undergraduate  days  I  could  have  been  acquainted  with 
anybody  a  good  deal  older  than  myself  who  would  be 
willing  to  help  me.  It  will  be  his  fault  if  he  does  not 
avail  himself  of  the  chance.* 

The  ugly  rooms,  the  hard  chairs,  bitter  coffee  and 
blazing  gas  do  not  make  an  attractive  picture,  it  would 
hardly  be  expected  that  men  would  go  there  again  and 
again,  whenever  they  had  the  opportunity.  It  is  the 
fact,  however,  that  the  many  people  who  have  assisted 
the  present  writer  in  his  work  have  been  unanimous  in 
bidding  him  not  to  forget  "  Newton's  Sunday  evenings," 
and  some  of  them  have  even  said  that  they  remembered 
them  with  more  pleasure  than  anything  else  in  their 
time  at  Cambridge.  It  is  difficult,  often  impossible, 
for  most  people  in  after  years  to  remember  who  was 
the  person,  if  person  there  was,  or  what  was  the 
occasion,  that  pointed  out  for  them  their  line  of  life ; 
but  it  may  surely  be  said  that  many  a  career  of 
adventure  or  research  could  trace  its  origin  to  the  Old 
Lodge  at  Magdalene. 

It  will  not  be  considered  unfitting  to  record  here 
the  account  written  by  a  distinguished  traveller  and 
naturalist,  Dr.  F.  H.  H.  Guillemard  of  Gonville  and 
Caius  College,  of  his  friendship  with  the  Professor, 
which  began  when  he  was  an  undergraduate  and 
continued  during  nearly  forty  years. 

.  .  .  When  I  returned  to  Cambridge  from  Lapland  in 
October,  1872, 1  attended  Newton's  lectures  for  the  first 
time.  The  manner  of  them  has  more  than  once  been 
described.  They  were,  I  think,  on  the  anatomy  of  the 

*  Letter  to  T.  Southwell,  February  27,  1891 


266  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

Vertebrata,  but  I  am  by  no  means  sure,  for  I  certainly 
took  no  notes,  and  I  do  not  think  that  any  of  us  paid 
much  attention  to  them,  though  there  was  that  about 
the  lecturer  that  made  what  is  now  termed  "  rotting  " 
or  anything  like  bad  behaviour  quite  out  of  the  question. 
They  were  delivered  with  a  sort  of  professed  perfunctori- 
ness.  He  seemed  to  say  aloud,  with  the  old-world 
courtesy  that  was  so  characteristic  of  him,  "  Gentlemen, 
I  am  aware  that  this  must  seem  to  you  rather  dull 
stuff,  but  it  is  my  duty  to  deliver  it,  and  I  must  ask 
you  to  be  kind  enough  to  listen  to  it  with  patience." 
He  read  these  effusions  standing  and  partly  propped  up 
by  a  high  stool ;  now  making  hasty  dives  at  a  tumbler 
of  water,  of  which  he  would  absorb  a  couple  of  quick 
gulps,  now  mopping  a  heated  brow  with  a  large  handker- 
chief. I  feel  sure  he  hated  these  lectures.  If  only  he 
had  taken  bird  migration  or  distribution  as  his  subject, 
how  different  it  would  have  been !  But  in  those  days 
such  studies  would  have  been  considered  trifling,  and 
altogether  beneath  the  horizon  of  professorial  teaching. 

I  suppose  it  was  at  the  opening  lecture  that  we 
inscribed  our  names.  Seeing  mine,  he  inquired  what 
relation  I  was  to  a  member  of  my  family  whom  he  knew. 
I  told  him.  He  then  asked,  I  suppose  by  way  of  some- 
thing to  say,  where  I  had  spent  the  Long  Vacation. 
My  reply  of  "  Lapland "  fairly  galvanised  him. 
"  What  !  Lapland !  What  did  you  go  there  for  ? " 
"Well,  sir,  chiefly  after  birds."  "  Birds!  Look  here, 
what  are  you  doing  on  Sunday  next?  Come  to  my 
rooms  in  Magdalene  at  half-past  eight."  And 
thus — now,  alas!  nearly  fifty  years  ago — began  our 
friendship. 

Nowadays,  of  course,  an  invitation  such  as  this  is 
common  enough,  and  I  understand  that  the  under- 
graduate occasionally  even  calls  his  tutor  by  his 
Christian  name.  But  this  was  certainly  not  the  fashion 
at  the  period  of  which  I  speak.  The  don  in  those  days 
as  a  rule  only  bade  you  to  his  rooms  for  the  purpose 
of  gating  you,  so  I  was  proportionately  impressed  and 


DE.  GUILLEMAED  267 

presented  myself  at  the  hour  appointed.  Newton's 
rooms  have  been  described  by  Mr.  Benson  in  his 
"Leaves  of  the  Tree,"  and  I  think  he  does  them 
considerable  injustice.  For  him  they  were  the  last  cry 
of  the  mid- Victorian  epoch,  of  a  type  calculated  to 
make  the  strongest  aesthete  shudder.  I  am  rather 
abnormally  affected  by  my  surroundings,  but  I  never 
experienced  in  them  any  such  feelings  of  artistic  malaise. 
Books,  to  my  thinking,  are  the  most  seemly  of  all  wall 
adornments,  and  with  books  the  walls  of  Newton's 
sitting-room  (for  in  those  days  he  had  but  one)  were 
almost  entirely  covered,  and,  I  might  add,  the  chairs 
and  sofa  also.  There  was,  it  is  true,  but  little  in  the 
way  of  decoration,  but  what  there  was  was  good. 
Immediately  over  the  door  by  which  one  entered  hung 
a  magnificent  pair  of  reindeer  horns — the  spoils,  I 
fancy,  of  his  Lapp  journey,  and  facing  the  wide  French 
window  was  a  beautiful  watercolour  of  an  Iceland 
Falcon  by  Joseph  Wolf  (the  one  man,  as  Newton  used 
always  to  say,  who  could  draw  the  birds  of  prey). 
Another,  or  rather  a  colour  print,  by  the  same  hand, 
hung  over  the  mantelpiece,  and  in  later  days  a 
Japanese  kakemono  by  a  celebrated  artist,  representing 
a  skein  of  geese  dropping  down  to  the  water,  occupied 
the  only  book-free  space  on  the  window  side. 

Newton's  manner  with  unfledged  youth  was  very 
kindly  and  reassuring.  He  talked  to  them  as  equals, 
which  seemed  strange  to  us  in  those  days  when  the 
gulf  between  don  and  undergraduate  was  of  unfathom- 
able depth,  and  soon  made  them  feel  as  much  at  their 
ease  as  was  possible  in  the  early  'seventies.  We  sat 
rather  close  together,  the  room  being  small,  and  I 
remember  being  rather  astonished  (so  different  were 
things  then)  at  the  presence  of  tobacco  and  spirits,  the 
latter,  of  course,  being  in  the  form  of  brandy,  for 
whiskey  was  at  that  time  a  fluid  almost  unknown  to  the 
southron,  though  I  had  made  its  acquaintance  in  the 
Orkneys.  Strangely  enough,  I  can  recall  but  few  of 
the  early  habitues  of  Newton's  salon.  There  was  E. 


268  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

Knubley  of  Magdalene,  a  "  birdy  "  man ;  Frank  Balfour, 
very  popular,  of  course,  with  everybody ;  Richard 
Lydekker,  tird  a  quatre  epingles,  as  the  French  say,  a 
great  swell  with  a  future  before  him  in  the  world  of 
science;  and  Ernest  Muggeridge  of  King's,*  the  only  non- 
Etonian  of  the  thirteen  undergraduates  of  that  College, 
a  keen  entomologist,  with  whom — in  company  with  our 

Present  Slade  Professor  of  Fine  Art,  Edward  Prior — 
used  to  make  excursions  to  the  Northamptonshire 
woods.  Frank  Darwin  I  remember,  and  G.  R.  Crotch, 
University  Sub-Librarian,  a  mighty  beetle-hunter  before 
the  Lord.  Duppa  Crotch  too,  I  believe,  was  often  there, 
though  I  think  at  a  somewhat  later  period — Shakesperian 
and  autophagist.  For,  with  what  truth  I  know  not,  the 
story  ran  that  while  chopping  wood  one  day  he  inadver- 
tently severed  a  digit.  To  take  it  to  the  cook  and  order 
it  for  dinner  was,  as  the  reporters  say,  the  work  of  an 
instant.  Anxious,  as  a  true  student  of  Nature,  to  prove 
everything,  he  was  loth  to  lose  such  a  God- sent  oppor- 
tunity for  a  blameless  cannibalism.  Later  came  Adam 
Sedgwick,  Bateson,  Marr,  Dr.  Sharp,  A.  H.  Evans, 
Barrett-Hamilton  and  a  host  of  others  well-known  in  the 
world  of  science  to  whom  I  need  not  further  allude. 

Newton  welcomed  me  very  warmly  that  first  evening, 
I  remember,  and  questioned  me  about  where  I  had  been 
and  what  I  had  done.  I  felt  that  in  his  eyes  it  was  some- 
thing to  be  an  habitue  of  Stevens's,  more  to  have  worked 
the  Copinshay  cliffs  in  search  of  eggs,  and  still  more, 
perhaps,  to  have  camped  on  the  Qvikkjokk  f jells.  But 
although  these  facts  may  have  prepossessed  him  in  my 
favour  I  really  ascribe  the  special  warmth  of  my  welcome 

*  Muggeridge  was  a  man  of  very  fine  character  and  most  lovable 
disposition.  He  was  a  great  friend  of  Henry  Bradshaw,  who  wrote  "  No 
one  can  ever  know  how  much  I  owe  to  Ernest  ...  as  any  one  must  who 
saw  much  of  him  and  did  not  find  the  strength  in  himself  to  do  the  right 
which  he  knew  he  ought  to  do.  ...  The  memory  of  such  a  friend  is  a 
thing  to  help  one  on  in  life  as  few  other  things  except  his  living  self 
could  do."  He  died  in  Hongkong  in  1879,  and  years  afterwards  I  sought 
in  vain  for  his  grave  in  the  "  Happy  Valley  "  there.  His  remains,  as  1 
later  discovered,  had  been  brought  back  to  England. 


THE  PROFESSOR'S  PIPES  269 

to  quite  a  different  and  much  more  trivial  cause,  but 
one  so  characteristic  of  Newton  that  I  cannot  omit  it 
here.  The  Professor's  pipes,  of  which  he  had  many, 
each  being  in  turn  allotted  its  spell  of  work,  were  all 
precisely  similar.  They  were  of  briar,  a  short  quadran- 
gular basal  stem  carrying  a  stout  bowl  with  a  chamfer 
at  the  mouth,  below  which  was  a  single  ring  of  fine 
beading.  The  real  stem  was  of  chicken  bone,  fitted  in 
with  a  cork  plug.  When,  being  asked  if  I  would  like 
to  smoke,  I  drew  a  precisely  similar  article  from  my 
pocket,  Newton  was  delighted.  There  could  be  no 
stronger  evidence  of  my  common  sense  and  intelligence, 
and  from  that  moment  I  was  "approved."  After  that, 
I  believe,  I  might  have  proclaimed  myself  a  Socialist,  or 
proposed  that  women  should  dine  in  Hall,  or  spoken  of 
S as  the  greatest  living  ornithologist  with  im- 
punity. All  would  have  been  forgiven. 

That  first  evening  was  the  forerunner  of  countless 
others.  For,  though  I  ceased  to  be  resident  after 
taking  my  degree,  and  for  many  years  was  incertcs  sedis 
as  the  phrase  goes — a  wanderer  over  the  earth — I  always 
came  back  to  Cambridge  to  work  up  my  collections  and 
always  went  to  Newton's  Sunday  evenings  as  a  matter 
of  course.  That  was  the  great  thing  about  Newton — 
one  always  found  him  where  one  left  him,  not  only 
socially,  but  topographically.  One  might  brave  the 
Arctic  ice  or  disappear  for  a  year  or  two  into  the  heart 
of  the  Dark  Continent,  but  when  one  returned  with  no 
little  of  the  Rijp  van  Winkel  feeling  at  heart,  there  was 
Newton  sitting  in  his  chair  making  spills,  just  as 
one  left  him.  It  almost  made  one  wonder  whether  all 
our  past  adventures  were  not  a  dream,  and  our  moving 
accidents  by  flood  and  field  mere  figments  of  the 
imagination. 

No  one,  indeed,  could  be  more  immutable  than 
Newton  in  his  daily  doings,  which  were  all  ruled  on  the 
Medo-Persic  plan.  I  do  not  precisely  remember  his 
hours,  but  I  am  pretty  certain  that  a  good  deal  of  his 
work  was  done  at  night,  and  hence — though  hardly  in 


270  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

the  running  with  Bradshaw — he  was  not  a  very  flagrant 
early  riser.  His  daily  wayfaring  to  the  Museum  was  an 
affair  which  called  for  no  little  effort  on  his  part,  for  his 
great  lameness — much  accentuated  by  the  accident  that 
befell  him  in  Heligoland — made  him  a  "  four-legged 
man  "  ;  he  used  a  stick  in  each  hand  and  his  rate  of 
progression  was  not  rapid.  In  his  room  at  the  Museum 
he  sat  with  the  door  open,  and  was  thus  enabled  to 
waylay  any  passer-by  with  whom  he  wanted  to  talk. 
His  lunch  consisted  usually  of  a  glass  of  sherry  and  a 
biscuit  of  the  nature  of  a  "  Captain's,"  or  first  cousin 
thereto,  and  when,  for  some  reason  which  I  do  not 
recall,  these  odontoclastic  delicacies  became  unobtain- 
able, the  whole  tenour  of  his  life  seemed  in  danger  of 
being  upset  until  it  was  discovered  that  the  College  cook 
could  produce  an  article  equally  solid  in  substance  if 
not  superior  in  merit.  By  this  Spartan  diet  he  was 
supported  until  dinner- time,  at  which  meal  he  played  a 
good  English  knife  and  fork,  keeping  up  with  marked 
gravity  of  ceremonial  the  old-fashioned  custom — confined 
nowadays,  alas  !  to  his  own  College  and  that  of  Magdalen, 
Oxford — of  "taking  wine"  with  his  guests.  Though 
not  intolerant  of  the  "beaded  bubble  winking  at  the 
brim "  it  was  the  more  serious  vintages  of  the  Penin- 
sula which  chiefly  appealed  to  him.  A  mutual  friend 
reminds  me  of  the  appreciation  with  which  he  held 
a  particularly  attractive  glass  of  port  to  the  light  and 
murmured  "  How  old  Kingsley  would  have  lapped 
this  up  !  " 

A  more  congenial  neighbour  at  dinner  no  one  could 
wish  for,  but  he  was  at  his  best  with  a  small  party  of 
"  birdy"  friends  where  conversation  was  more  or  less 
general  and  the  political  atmosphere  purged  of  "  all 

those  d d  Radical  ideas  "  which  found  such  scant 

favour  in  his  sight.  To  put  it  mildly,  Newton  was  no 
Progressive.  In  his  eyes  alteration  of  any  kind  was 
the  one  unpardonable  sin  ;  change  little  short  of  a  crime. 
I  feel  sure  that  the  donning  of  a  new  suit  must  have 
caused  him  actual  pain,  and  he  avoided  inflicting  it  as 


A  TOEY  OF  THE  TORIES  271 

much  as  possible.  The  pea-like  similarity  of  his  little 
black  silk  ties  must  have  mitigated  his  anguish  in  the 
matter  of  what  is  now  gracefully  termed  neckwear.  As 
a  thing  was,  so  it  had  to  be,  whether  in  habit  of  body  or 
of  mind,  and  hence  he  did  not  readily  adopt  many  of 
the  latter-day  views  in  ornithology.  Of  all  men  I  ever 
knew  he  was  the  least  carried  about  with  every  wind  of 
doctrine.  Trinomialism  was  abhorrent  to  him — it  cer- 
tainly threw  a  shadow  over  his  later  years — and  the 
Turdus  turdus  turdus  craze  rendered  him  well-nigh 
speechless.  I  wonder  what  he  would  have  thought  of 
cubism  had  he  lived  to  see  it !  Not  that  he  was  in  the 
least  averse  from  new  ideas  in  his  favourite  science  so 
long  as  they  came,  so  to  speak,  with  good  introductions. 
He  held  an  open  mind  with  regard  to  classification,  and 
indeed  (good  naturalist  as  he  was)  was  quite  capable  of 
embracing  subversive,  if  not  revolutionary  views  did 
the  arguments  in  favour  of  them  but  hold  water.  He 
welcomed,  or  was  even  the  actual  initiator  of,  many 
new  developments  of  ornithology,  notably  those  con- 
nected with  Migration  and  Close- time,  which  I  need 
not  enlarge  upon  here.  But  at  bottom,  as  I  have  said, 
he  was  a  Tory  of  the  Tories,  and  ofttimes,  too,  in  rather 
unexpected  ways.  One  did  not  always  detect  from  afar 
the  red  flag  which  induced  the  vehemently  taurine 
attitude. 

With  all  his  classical  leanings  Newton  was  not  a 
particularly  "  booky  "  man.  Apart  from  travels  and 
scientific  works,  with  which  he  kept  himself  thoroughly 
au  courant,  he  did  not  trouble  himself  much  about  the 
moderns,  but  it  would  not  have  been  easy  to  mention 
any  pre-Edwardian  book  that  had  won  its  way  to  fame 
with  which  he  was  unacquainted,  whether  fact  or 
fiction.  Thackeray  was  a  special  favourite.  I  cannot 
now  recollect  whether  he  knew  him  personally,  but  I 
well  remember  his  description  of  a  joyous  individual, 
Arcedeckne  by  name,*  from  whom,  he  told  me, 

*  This,  no  doubt,  was  Andrew  Arcedeckne,  son  of  Chaloner 
Arcedeckne,  who  matriculated  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  February  6, 1798. 


272  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

Thackeray  drew  the  character  of  Harry  Foker,  and 
how  he  went  up  after  the  finish  of  the  lecture  on 
"  The  Four  Georges,"  slapped  Thackeray  on  the  back, 
and  said  "  Splendid !  old  cock,  but  why  didn't  you 
have  a  pi-anner  ? "  Those  who  knew  the  subject  of 
these  notes  will  picture  the  appreciative  quakes  which 
shook  his  abundant  waistcoat  in  relating  the  story.  It 
did  one  good,  I  may  remark  parenthetically,  to  see 
Newton  laugh.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  knew  any  one — 
unless  it  was  Arthur  Hilton,  the  inimitable  author  of 
the  Light  Green — whose  face,  nay,  whose  whole  figure, 
were  (on  occasion)  more  vividly  expressive  of  mirth  ; 
though,  it  must  be  confessed,  they  could  equally  well 
express  other  moods  when  necessary.  It  is  rather  diffi- 
cult to  realise  that  any  one  so  meticulously  careful  can 
have  been  a  whole-hearted  lover  of  fiction,  yet  such 
no  doubt  he  was.  That  wonderful  book,  "A  Dic- 
tionary of  Birds,"  shows  no  evidence,  save  that  of  a 
catholicity  of  reading,  by  which  one  might  detect  it. 
His  was,  indeed,  a  peculiarly  tidy  mind,  and  if  he  were 
not  accurate  I  do  not  know  who  could  be  thus 
described.  He  would  take  immense  pains  about  a 
verification,  and  always  had  chapter  and  verse  under 
his  hand,  like  Robertson  Smith.  There  was  no  shadow 
of  slackness  about  him,  and  one  instinctively  tightened 
up  one's  ordinary  diction  when  in  his  company.  He 
did  not  like  "zoo"  or  "rhino."  I  wonder  what  he 
would  have  said  could  he  have  seen  the  legend  on  a 
parcel  sent  me  not  long  ago — "  Photos  on  appro,  for 
repro."  !  He  held  the  pen  of  a  good,  if  not  a  ready 
writer,  and  expressed  himself  in  excellent  clear  nervous 
English,  though  I  remember  his  lamenting  to  me  that 
he  wrote  slowly.  He  was  a  capital  letter- writer, 
though  I  became  aware  of  this  chiefly  from  his  letters 
to  others,  notably  those  to  his  lifelong  friend  Lord 
Lilford,  for  in  my  journeys  I  was  seldom  in  very 

Lord  Huntingfield,  his  relative,  who  possesses  his  beautiful  gold-headed 
cane,  tells  me  he  was  said  to  have  been  much  like  a  seal  in  appearance, 
and  hence  Thackeray's  name  of  Foker  (Latin  Phoca).— F.  H.  H.  G. 


OLD  AGE  273 

accessible  places,  and  at  home  we  lived  too  close  to 
render  writing  necessary,  except  for  dinner  invitations. 
In  these  his  old  country-house  habits  came  out,  and  he 
would  often  say,  "  There  is  a  good  moon  now,  will  you 
give  me  the  pleasure  of  your  company  (I  think  it  was 
always  '  the  pleasure  of  your  company ')  on  Sunday 
next." 

With  the  advance  of  years  Newton's  infirmities 
evidently  became  a  greater  trial  to  him,  but  he  bore 
them  bravely  and  seldom  spoke  of  them.  One  by  one 
his  own  people  had  passed  away  before  him  and  he 
grieved  over  their  going.  "I  am  the  last  of  my 
generation,"  he  would  pathetically  and  curiously  often 
say.  Then  it  became  evident  to  him  that  his  own  days 
were  numbered.  The  call  came  lingeringly,  and  he 
fought  the  enemy  inch  by  inch.  Near  the  end  he 
rebelled  against  dying  in  his  bed  and  directed  that  he 
should  be  placed  in  his  arm-chair.  "  Here  will  I  meet 
my  fate,"  he  said,  in  quaintly  stilted  phrase  ;  and  in 
his  chair  he  died. 

In  the  light  (or,  should  I  not  say,  the  darkness)  of 
these  post-bellum  days,  Newton  must  be  accounted  an 
extinct  type,  as  extinct  as  the  Great  Auk  and  Dodo  of 
which  he  loved  so  much  to  write.  Such  strength  of 
individuality  I  cannot  recall  in  any  other  person  I  have 
known.  It  can  safely  be  said  that,  having  carefully 
envisaged  his  question  and  decided  it,  no  human  power 
could  make  him  alter  his  mind.  Yet  one  almost 
hesitates  to  say  it,  lest  a  wrong  impression  should  be 
conveyed,  for  he  was  one  of  the  most  lovable  of  men, 
and  inspired  an  unusual  degree  of  personal  affection  in 
the  many  young  men  who  frequented  his  rooms.  The 
influence  he  exercised  upon  them  was  remarkable,  not 
only  upon  the  ornithologists,  but  upon  men  like  Adam 
Sedgwick,  Bateson,  Frank  Darwin,  Lydekker,  and  a 
host  of  others  in  different  fields.  It  would,  I  think, 
be  correct  to  describe  him  as  the  founder  of  the 
modern  Cambridge  scientific  school,  developing  the 
good  seed  sown  by  Henslow,  who  was  to  a  former 

T  > 


274  WORK  AT  CAMBRIDGE 

generation,  I  imagine,  very  much  what  Newton  was  to 
mine.  God  rest  his  soul !  How  I  wish  I  could  bring 
him  back  !  There  are  few  of  whom  I  have  such  kindly 
recollections. 

F.    H.    H.    GUILLEMAED. 

1920. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

LATER  YEARS 

ALTHOUGH,  as  has  been  stated  above,  Newton's  home 
during  the  last  fifty  years  of  his  life  was  at  Cambridge, 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  he  spent  all  his  days  in 
museums  and  libraries.  He  was,  first  of  all  and  by 
nature,  an  out-of-doors  man,  and  in  early  days  he  was 
a  keen  game  shot.  "  Here  I  oscillate  between  a  gun 
and  a  proof-sheet,"  he  wrote  in  September,  ]  870,  from 
Bloxworth,  in  Dorsetshire,  where  he  spent  a  part  of 
every  summer  with  two  of  his  sisters  between  1866 
and  1886.  He  was  a  large  and  powerfully  built  man, 
and  in  spite  of  his  lameness  he  could  move  about  rough 
country  with  astonishing  ease.  At  one  time  or  another 
he  made  expeditions  to  many  of  the  remote  parts  of 
Britain,  and  nothing  delighted  him  more  than  days 
spent  in  watching  birds. 

The  chief  thing  I  have  to  tell  you  of  is  a  charming 
day  at  Pentire,  a  headland  on  the  N.  coast  of  Cornwall. 
When  I  wrote  last  I  think  I  told  you  I  had  got  Gat- 
combe  to  arrange  for  an  expedition  in  search  of  Choughs. 
We  started  about  7  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  went 
by  rail  to  Bodmin  Road  Station,  where  we  had  a  car- 
riage to  meet  us,  and  getting  into  it  passed  through 
Bodmin  (just  like  an  Irish  town)  and  Wadebridge. 
Thence  we  bore  to  the  right  to  a  place  called  Trevornan, 
a  comfortable  old  house  where  fived  a  cheery  old  lady 
whose  nephew,  a  certain  Mr.  Darrell  Stephens,  was  the 
man  who  was  to  show  us  the  Choughs.  He  is  a  very 
good  sort  of  fellow,  some  21  or  22  years  old,  preparing 

275 


276  LATER  YEARS 

to  be  a  land  agent,  and  to  that  end  he  has  been  learn- 
ing his  business  under  Baron  Hambro's  man  at  Milton 
Abbey  where,  having  a  great  taste  for  botany,  he  had 
become  acquainted  with  Mansel-Pleydell. 

As  it  was  still  early  we  declined  being  "  refreshed  " 
and  almost  immediately  started  again  in  the  carriage, 
taking  Mr.  Stephens  with  us,  and  so  went  some  2  or  3 
miles  to  the  sea,  along  the  right  bank  of  the  river  that 
runs  through  Wadebridge,  our  drive  ending  by  crossing 
a  beautiful  hard  sand,  for  the  tide  was  out.  Then  we 
sent  the  carriage  to  a  neighbouring  farm-house  to  wait 
for  us  and  took  to  our  legs,  scrambling  up  the  cliff  and 
along  it  towards  Pentire  Point.  A  great  part  of  the 
cliff  here  is  steep  for  say  200  feet  above  the  water  with 
a  steep  grassy  slope  above  it. 

Mr.  Stephens  was  very  keen  about  the  rare  plants 
that  grew  here,  but  I  am  afraid  they  were  rather  lost 
upon  me,  though  I  could  well  admire  the  enormous 
number  of  wild  flowers  which  made  the  turf  quite 
bright  with  all  sorts  of  colours.  I  don't  think  too  that 
I  ever  saw  more  butterflies  at  once,  a  great  many  of 
one  of  the  "  Blues,"  which,  by  the  way,  exactly  matches 
in  colour  the  flower  of  the  Squill  which  was  growing  in 
abundance.  There  was  also  a  great  number  of  Colias 
edusa.  We  were  scarcely  ever  out  of  sight  of  one,  and 
I  hardly  exaggerate  when  I  say  that  in  some  spots  they 
were  in  flocks.  As  we  kept  ascending  towards  Pentire 
Point  the  view  became  more  and  more  extensive  and 
beautiful ;  but  of  course  our  chief  object  was  the 
Choughs,  which  Mr.  Stephens  had  seen  constantly  for 
some  weeks  past.  The  cliff  and  slope  were  broken  in 
places  by  little  ravines,  "  gugs "  they  call  them,  some 
of  which  we  could  cross  while  others  it  was  better  to 
walk  round.  Just  as  we  were  climbing  the  side  of  one 
of  them,  rather  a  shallow  one,  we  all  three  heard  a  note 
which  was  perhaps  most  like  a  jackdaw's  of  any  I  had 
ever  heard,  but  still  unmistakably  different.  I  knew 
at  once  it  must  be  a  Chough's,  and  looking  up  we  saw 
on  the  wing  3  black  rook-like  birds  that  seemed  to 


CORNISH  CHOUGHS  277 

have  risen  from  the  cornfield  that  skirted  the  slope 
and  was  bounded  by  a  stone  wall.  They  flew  on  and 
disappeared  over  the  ridge  and  Mr.  S.  said  they  would 
be  seen  to  settle  on  the  rocks.  When  we  got  to  the 
top  of  this  ridge  we  found  ourselves  almost  at  the  end 
of  the  slope,  for  the  other  side  of  the  next  "  gug  "  was 
precipitous  almost  to  the  top. 

I  may  say  that  the  slope  is  so  steep  that  though  it 
abounds  in  rabbits  Mr.  S.  says  it  is  difficult  to  get 
them,  for  when  shot  they  roll  down  into  the  sea ;  in 
places  it  must  be  200  yards  wide  at  least. 

Well,  at  first  we  could  see  no  Choughs,  but  after  a 
while  we  made  out  first  2,  and  .then  the  third,  sitting 
on  the  side  of  the  cliff,  and  then  getting  as  near  as  we 
could  we  lay  down  and  watched  them  with  our  glasses. 
Two  of  them,  a  pair  I  should  think,  sat  quite  close 
together  and  were  preening  their  feathers.  It  was  a 
bright  cloudless  day  and  as  they  sat  in  full  sunlight  we 
had  a  capital  view  of  them  with  the  beautiful  purple 
gloss  (which  was  quite  plain)  on  their  feathers,  and 
their  red  bills  and  legs,  the  last,  however,  not  so  bright 
as  I  should  have  expected.  These  birds  were  not  con- 
tent with  arranging  their  own  feathers  but  they  fre- 
quently trimmed  one  another,  especially  their  heads, 
and  one  could  see  one  bird  shut  its  eye  while  the  other 
was  carefully  picking  round  it.  These  two  birds  seemed 
to  take  no  notice  of  us,  we  were  perhaps  just  out  of 
ordinary  gun-shot,  but  the  third  was  more  fidgetty  and 
kept  jumping  from  one  rock  to  another  and  every  now 
and  then  calling  out.  I  could  have  stayed  watching 
them  much  longer,  but  we  had  to  be  going  on ;  so  after 
half  an  hour,  or  perhaps  not  so  long,  we  proceeded,  and 
then  after  a  short  flight  or  two  they  rose  up  and  came 
back  over  our  heads  within  easy  shot.  On  the  wing 
they  look  much  more  like  Rooks,  indeed  one  might 
have  some  trouble  to  distinguish  them,  but  their  wings 
seem  larger  in  proportion  to  their  bodies,  just  as  Stock- 
Doves'  are  larger  than  Ring-Doves'. 

These  birds  we  saw  no  more.     By  and  by  we  got  to 


278  LATER  YEARS 

the  headland,  where  the  view  was  really  magnificent, 
the  whole  coast,  from  Hartland  Point  in  Devonshire  to, 
as  they  said,  Cape  Cornwall,  being  within  sight.  How- 
ever, I  think  it  is  impossible  we  could  see  Cape  Corn- 
wall, and  that  our  furthest  point  to  the  westward  was 
the  Gurnard's  Head  ;  but  that  is  close  to  it.  Pentire  is 
so  high  that  you  see  over  some  of  the  intervening 
points,  Trevose  Head  in  particular,  which  juts  out  much 
further  from  the  regular  trend  of  the  coast.  In  the 
distance  we  had  Lundy  Island.  I  don't  know  when  I 
ever  saw  such  a  bright  day,  everything  seemed  to 
sparkle  with  light.  Inland  to  the  eastward  we  had 
Row  Tor  and  Brown  Willy,  which  are  near  the  Cheese- 
wring,  and  I  was  pleased  to  find  I  recognised  their 
outline,  though  I  had  never  seen  them  before  from  this 
position.  To  the  south  was  the  estuary  of  the  river  on 
which  Wadebridge  stands,  with  a  great  bar  of  sand 
across  it,  and  another  river  that  comes  from  Padstow. 
But  all  the  interior  of  Cornwall  is  alike  (except  the 
wooded  valleys),  and  our  eyes  were  chiefly  seaward,  as 
the  shore  immediately  below  us  we  could  not  see.* 

In  the  summer  of  1882  an  unfortunate  accident 
crippled  him  still  further. 

My  summer  has  been  one  of  shattered  hopes.  A 
friend  of  mine,  Woodall  by  name,  agreed  to  take  Tris- 
tram and  myself  for  a  cruise  in  his  steam  yacht  to 
Heligoland  and  Denmark,  and  accordingly  we  went  on 
board  the  Garland  at  Yarmouth  on  the  morning  of 
June  1.  We  did  not  get  off,  however,  for  two  or 
three  days  afterwards,  owing  to  the  weather ;  for  our 
yachtsman,  even  when  he  has  a  tea-kettle  to  rely  upon, 
does  not  like  knocking  about  in  a  head  wind. 

At  last  we  had  a  fair  run  to  Heligoland,  and  a  most 
enjoyable  interview  with  Gatke  and  his  marvellous 
collection. 

Mrs.  Governor  of  that  important  dependency  was 

*  Letter  to  Edward  Newton,  September  19,  1877. 


ACCIDENT  AT  HELIGOLAND  279 

bent  upon  hearing  Tristram's  eloquence,  and,  accord- 
ingly, after  being  there  2  or  3  days,  we  departed, 
promising  to  bring  the  Canon  back  to  fire  off  the 
following  Sunday. 

In  the  meanwhile  we  went  to  Bremerhaven,  and 
then  by  land  to  Bremen  and  Hamburg,  looking  up 
friends  ornithological  and  otherwise  at  both  places. 
We  attempted  to  return  to  Heligoland  to  fulfil  our 
promise,  but  were  blown  back  to  the  Weser,  and  there 
passed  2  or  3  days  uselessly.  At  last  we  did  reach 
Heligoland  again,  and  meant  to  be  off  at  daybreak 
next  morning  for  Jutland,  where  I  had  in  view  a  visit 
to  several  happy  hunting  grounds  —  Avocet,  Black 
Stork,  and  other  nice  things.  But  the  glass  fell  and 
the  wind  rose,  so  we  had  to  lie  in  the  roadstead  some 
days  more.  The  gale  was  so  heavy  that  we  broke  an 
anchor,  and  had  several  other  little  misadventures, 
while  every  hour  our  chance  of  going  to  Denmark 
diminished;  for  both  Woodall  and  Tristram  had  en- 
gagements at  home  they  were  bound  to  keep. 

When  the  weather  in  some  degree  moderated  we 
went  ashore,  to  dine  and  sleep  at  the  Governor's  house  ; 
and  coming  back  the  next  day,  as  I  was  stepping  into 
the  boat  from  the  pier,  the  big  tendon  of  my  sound  leg 
snapped  just  above  the  knee-cap.  I,  of  course,  col- 
lapsed ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  kindness 
of  everybody,  and  after  a  surgeon  had  come  off  to  the 
yacht  and  built  up  a  wall  of  plaster  of  Paris  and  tow 
along  the  whole  length  of  my  leg,  we  got  under  way 
for  Yarmouth  direct.  Arrived  there  (and  coming  in  for 
another  gale  on  the  way),  I  was  brought  to  London, 
and  was  laid  up  for  more  than  two  months  at  my 
brother's  house.  All  went  well,  however,  I  am  thankful 
to  say,  and  towards  the  end  of  August  I  found  I  could 
walk  with  2  sticks  very  fairly.* 

That   was   the   end   of  his  more  active  days,  and 
thenceforward,  to  use   his   own   expression,   "from   a 
*  Letter  to  Rev.  A.  C.  Smith,  October  5,  1882. 


280  LATER   YEARS 

three-legged  I  am  become  a  four-legged  man."  Many 
people  would  have  been  embittered  by  such  a  calamity, 
but  Newton  was  never  heard  to  complain  ;  and  he  even 
made  light  of  it  in  writing  to  his  brother  Edward.  No 
man  ever  had  his  days  more  fully  filled  than  were  his. 
Among  his  papers  was  found  a  printed  form  for  the 
publication  of  the  first  issue  of  "  Who's  Who,"  and 
against  the  heading  of  Amusements  was  scribbled,  in 
his  handwriting,  "  No  time  for  any." 

Happily,  however,  his  double  lameness  did  not  keep 
him  a  permanent  prisoner  at  Cambridge,  and  for  many 
years  he  joined  his  friend,  Henry  Evans,  of  Derby,  in 
cruises  about  the  British  Islands. 

Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  who  was  his  fellow-guest  in 
many  of  these  cruises,  writes  : — 

Year  after  year  "  Alfred  the  Great,"  as  Evans  used 
playfully  to  call  him,  was  received  with  open  arms,  not 
only  by  his  host,  but  by  every  member  of  the  crew. 
And  no  one  could  look  forward  with  keener  zest  to  these 
holidays  than  Newton,  when  for  some  weeks  he  could 
escape  from  the  cares  of  University  life  to  the  firths  and 
sounds  of  the  north  and  west  of  Scotland,  where  no 
letters  could  reach  him,  even  if  he  had  left  an  address 
behind  him,  which  he  was  generally  careful  not  to  do. 
Nowhere  could  he  be  seen  to  be  more  completely  in  his 
element  than  on  board  of  the  Aster.  He  loved  the  sea 
and  its  associations  with  such  a  sturdy  affection  that 
inclemencies  of  weather,  by  no  means  infrequent  in 
those  regions,  never  drew  from  him  the  least  sign  of 
impatience,  or  seemed  in  any  degree  to  disturb  his 
habitual  cheeriness  and  his  enjoyment  of  the  cruise. 
Clad  in  the  light-grey  tweed  suit  which  did  duty  on 
these  voyages,  but  without  top-coat  or  waterproof,  he 
would  sit  for  hours  on  some  exposed  part  of  the  vessel, 
smoking  innumerable  pipes  and  watching  for  every 
variety  of  sea-fowl  that  might  show  itself  either  in  the 


SIR  A.  GEIKIE'S  RECOLLECTIONS       281 

air  or  in  the  water.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days  sun, 
wind,  rain,  and  salt  spray  told  on  his  complexion,  which 
then  assumed  a  ruddiness  that  would  have  astonished 
the  inmates  of  Magdalene  College.  The  sharpness  of  his 
eyesight  in  the  detection  of  birds  on  the  wing,  even 
when  he  had  nearly  reached  the  age  of  seventy  years, 
was  always  an  astonishment  to  his  companions.  And 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  each  fresh  form  was  greeted 
by  him  as  it  flew  overhead  became  infectious  to  all  on 
board.  .  .  . 

These  cruises  formed  an  important  element  in 
Newton's  life  during  his  later  years.  He  looked  forward 
to  them  with  almost  "boyish  exuberance  and  delighted 
afterwards  to  recount  their  varied  incidents.  They  not 
only  provided  a  healthful  and  delightful  holiday,  but  kept 
him  still  in  close  personal  touch  with  birds,  which  had 
been  the  main  interest  and  study  of  his  life.  In  spite 
of  the  lameness  which  was  understood  to  have  been  the 
result  of  an  accident  during  infancy,  he  was  often  the 
first  to  enter  the  boat  which  had  been  got  ready  for  a 
landing  on  some  surf-beaten  rock,  or  for  a  closer  inspec- 
tion of  the  caves  and  stacks  at  the  foot  of  a  bird- 
haunted  precipice.  On  such  occasions,  so  self-dependent 
was  he,  he  would  gently  repel  offers  of  the  assistance 
which  was  always  at  his  service.  It  was  only  when 
the  increasing  feebleness  of  his  limbs  would  have  made 
such  assistance  indispensable  that  he  reluctantly  gave 
up  the  annual  cruise.* 

His  first  visit  to  St.  Kilda  was  made  in  1887  : — 

The  general  sight  is  magnificent,  but  I  have  seen 
taller  cliffs  and  clifis  more  full  of  birds  in  Spitzbergen. 
I  think  the  St.  Kilda  minister  is  a  very  good  fellow, 
but  I  wish  he  would  stop  the  cruelties  that  the  lambs  of 
his  flock  perpetrate  on  innocent  young  birds,  which 
they  bring  away  and  torture  for  their  own  amusement. 
I  was  afraid  it  would  be  thought  unmannerly  or  I  should 

*  Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  P.E.S.     Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society, 
B.  vol.  80,  1908- 


282  LATER   YEARS 

have  liked  to  use  my  stick  on  2  or  3  boys,  besides, 
not  knowing  the  laws  of  the  country,  I  might  have 
brought  them  down  upon  me.* 

In  1891  they  went  up  through  the  Minch  to  Orkney, 
thence  to  several  outlying  skerries  and  to  the  Flannans, 
west  of  Lewis. 

I  write  to  report  our  return  from  a  charming  cruise, 
though  we  saw  nothing  of  any  great  importance  and 
performed  no  great  achievement.  The  2nd  day  after 
our  arrival  here  Evans  took  us  over  to  Oronsay  for  the 
afternoon.  I  wish  we  had  had  the  whole  day  there,  for  I 
should  like  to  have  searched  some  of  those  kitchen- 
middens,  and  indeed  I  failed  to  find  the  one  which 
Grieve  depicts.  If  he  had  only  given  a  map  instead  of 
a  useless  figure  it  would  have  been  better.  We  found 
one  that  had  been  cut  into,  but  from  his  description  it 
can't  be  that  in  which  he  got  the  Great  Auk  bones.  I 
made  some  notes  upon  it  which  I  can  send  you  if  you 
think  they  will  be  of  any  use  to  you,  but  I  fear  they 
are  worthless.  We  saw  the  usual  birds,  but  nothing 
more.  Next  day  we  started  for  the  north,  and  got  up 
to  the  skerries  on  Sunday,  the  cliffs  looked  as  grand  as 
ever,  and  so  did  the  Eagles,  both  of  which  we  saw 
sitting  and  for  a  good  long  time,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  nest.  I  believe  I  saw  a  young  bird  in  it,  but 
neither  Evans  nor  my  brother  go  so  far  as  that — 
though  both  agree  as  to  its  being  the  nest.  We  had 
your  book  in  the  boat  with  us  and  went  to  the  very  spot 
where  your  photographer  must  have  stood,  but  thence  the 
sight  of  the  eyry  is  not  visible,  being  round  the  corner  of 
the  first  projection.  On  this  we  all  agreed.  Your  photo- 
grapher has  "  distanced  "  the  rest  of  the  cliff  more  than 
he  ought,  I  suppose  to  increase  its  picturesqueness.  We 
were  in  the  boat  or  on  the  rocks  on  that  side  for  more 
than  2  hours,  having  the  Eagles  in  view  most  of  the 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  July  29,  1887. 


SUMMER  CRUISES  283 

time.  We  saw  no  Falcons,  as  we  did  last  year,  neither 
did  Evans  when  he  was  there  some  ten  days  before,  and 
we  fear  the  gamekeeper,  who  told  him  some  time  ago  he 
was  going  over  from  Lewis,  may  have  done  for  them. 
Though  the  Eagle's  nest  is  to  all  appearance  inaccessible, 
being  well  overhung,  anybody  might  kill  the  birds  with 
a  rifle,  and  I  consider  their  existence  most  precarious. 

The  next  day  we  were  off  to  N.  Rona.  There  the 
sea  was  calm,  but  there  was  a  good  deal  of  swell,  and 
though  I  believe  I  could  have  got  into  the  boat  without 
any  risk,  my  brother  begged  me  not  to  try  it.  I  there- 
fore stayed  on  board  contenting  myself  with  looking  at 
what  J.  Wolley  used  to  consider  the  land  of  promise,  and 
admiring  the  accuracy  with  which  you  have  depicted  it. 
Your  view  is  really  excellent.  Evans  went  ashore  and 
stayed  for  some  time,  and  my  brother  rowed  backwards 
and  forwards  along  the  rocks,  while  the  yacht  kept  off 
and  on.  Evans  reported  a  pair  of  Falcons,  but  nothing 
else  more  than  the  usual  birds.  The  landing  was  easy 
and  I  am  very  sorry  I  did  not  go.  Of  course  there  was 
a  great  surf  on  the  other  side.  Then  we  stood  away  to 
Suleskerry,  where  we  made  no  attempt  to  land,  but  I 
suppose  there  would  have  been  no  real  difficulty  in 
getting  ashore  or  coming  off  had  anything  been  to  be 
gained  by  it. 

1  think  there  must  be  more  Gannets  there  than  on 
Stack  (perhaps  twice  as  many),  but,  as  Evans  says,  you 
might  add  or  subtract  the  whole  lot  from  those  at 
St.  Kilda  without  noticing  the  difference.  After  looking 
the  rock  well  over  with  our  glasses  we  turned  southward 
and  reached  Loch  Roagh  in  Lewis  where  we  lay  that 
night.  Such  a  piping  hot  day  it  was,  the  sea  like  satin 
but  a  fair  swell  upon  it,  and  a  good  deal  of  haze ;  sun 
setting  like  a  ball  of  copper  and  the  moon  rising  like 
another. 

Tuesday  morning  we  were  off  to  the  Flannan  Islands 
which  delighted  all  of  us  !  There  was  a  bit  of  a  swell, 
but  one  could  have  landed  almost  anywhere,  and  we 
boated  in  and  about  them  for  a  couple  of  hours.  No 


284  LATER   YEARS 

Pomatorhine  Skua  or  Wild  Geese,  however,  gladdened 
our  vision,  and  except  a  Corvine  bird  which  just  showed 
itself  and  then  disappeared,  there  was  nothing  beyond 
the  ordinary  sea-birds.  Evans  has  a  great  fancy  for 
going  into  caves,  and  his  fancy  would  here  have  perhaps 
tired  itself,  for  they  seem  endless,  but  after  some  four 
or  five  I  suggested  that  the  open  air  was  certainly 
sweeter  and  the  chance  of  being  splashed  by  the  Shags 
and  their  companions  not  greater.  I  think  these  islands 
might  repay  you  for  another  visit,  if  you  had  the  luck 
to  hit  off  quiet  water.  It  seems  to  me  (from  the  good 
look  we  had  at  them  in  so  many  directions)  quite  clear 
how  they  came  to  be  called  the  "  Seven  Hunters."  The 
Eastern  group  consists  of  two  pairs  of  sizable  islands 
making  four  islands,  and  the  Western  of  one  pair,  and 
the  most  western  stack  of  all,  which  stands  so  distinctly 
from  the  rest  both  in  position  and  outline,  the  latter 
very  like  Levenith  in  St.  Kilda,  of  which  it  is  a  sort  of 
miniature.  We  went  very  close  round  this,  hoping  we 
might  find  a  Gannet  or  two  on  it,  but  could  see  none. 
There  were  plenty  about,  and  Fulmars  also,  but  I  think 
they  were  not  "  at  home "  there.  By  the  way,  Evans 
quite  believes  in  the  Fulmar  breeding  on  N.  Rona,  as  he 
saw  one  or  more  on  the  land. 

From  the  Flannans  we  came  to  Shilley  Sound, 
intending  to  go  next  day  to  the  Outer  Hysgeir,  but 
the  sea  began  to  tumble  about  and  it  became  evident 
in  the  morning  that  if  we  went  we  could  not  land  there, 
so  we  came  back  through  the  Sound  of  Hamir  to  Braca- 
dale,  starting  next  day  for  Loch  Skavaig  and  Coruisk, 
and  so  to  Oban.  There  we  had  to  coal,  and  on  Friday 
returned  to  Jura.  Yesterday  we  went  round  the  Loch 
Tarbet  of  this  island,  where  we  found  a  jolly  lot  of  seals — 
all  vitulina.  By  the  way,  we  saw  some  fine  grey  seals 
at  Oronsay,  N.  Rona,  and  the  Flannans,  very  tame  at 
the  latter,  and  one  huge  monster  let  us  get  quite  close 
to  him  before  he  wriggled  off  his  rock. 

To-morrow  we  are  off  for  the  south,  and  if  we  have 
done  nothing  towards  adding  to  the  knowledge  of  birds 


HEBBIDES  285 

we  have  (or  at  least  I  have)  had  a  very  enjoyable  holi- 
day, and  I  shall  be  able  to  go  back  to  work  refreshed. 

I  went  into  Scott's,  the  bird-stuffer  at  Oban,  and  saw 
there  a  Diver  which  I  advised  him  to  show  to  you  the 
next  time  you  call  upon  him.  I  don't  say  it  is,  but  it 
looks  as  if  it  might  be  a  young  example  of  Colymbus 
adainsi.  It  is  a  wretchedly  mounted  thing,  and  has  the 
tip  of  its  bill  damaged  by  shot.  He  said  it  was  got  in 
those  parts  (Sound  of  Mull,  I  think),  and  if  so  you 
might  like  to  compare  it  with  a  C.  glacialis  of  the 
same  age,  for  I  forget  if  it  has  a  whitish  bill  or  not. 
This  specimen  certainly  has. 

Evans  says  he  was  at  Hychier  off  Canna  about  three 
weeks  ago  and  found  only  some  half  a  dozen  Terns 
there,  but  no  sheep.  Those  that  were  put  on  the  island 
last  and  destroyed  the  Ternery  did  badly,  the  owner 
losing  more  than  half.  Serve  him  right ! 

I  have  been  always  looking  out  for  a  collision  with 
the  Shiantelle  and  am  sorry  it  did  not  come  off.  Write 
to  me  at  Cambridge. 

p.S. — Off  the  Flannans  we  had  a  distant  view  of 
St.  Kilda  and  Barra.* 

The  Shiantelle  was  Mr.  Har vie- Brown's  yacht,  in 
which  for  many  years  he  made  cruises  about  the  Scottish 
coasts  and  islands,  collecting  additional  material  for  his 
volumes  on  the  Fauna  of  Scotland.  During  this  year's 
cruise  he  had  planned  to  meet  the  Aster  about  the 
Orkney  Islands,  but  for  some  reason  the  scheme  mis- 
carried, and  he  consoled  himself  by  writing  the  "  Song  of 
the  Shearwater,"  which  he  sent  to  Newton. 

PUFFINTTS  GRAVIS, 
Carmen  Harveio-Brunneanum,  more  Kiplingiano. 

By  the  old  North  Rona  chapel,  looking  southward  to  the  sea, 
There's  a  Shearwater  a-aittin',  an'  I  know  she  thinks  o'  me ; 

*  Letter  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown,  June  28,  1891. 


286  LATER  YEARS 

For  the  wind  is  in  the  sea-pinks,  an'  the  Herrin'  Gulls  they  say, 
"  Get  you  back,  you  Scottish  reiver  ;  get  you  back  to  Mingulay  ! 

Get  you  back  to  Mingulay  ! 

Where  the  old  Shiantelle  lay, 
Can't  you  'ear  'er  chains  a-rattlin'  from  Oban  to  Mingulay  ? 

On  the  road  to  Mingulay, 

Where  the  whales  an'  dolphins  play, 
An'  the  dawn  comes  up  like  thunder  outer  Skye  to  stop  all  day  ! " 

'Er  plumage  was  that  mottled  as  she1  sot  upon  the  green, 
She  looked  a  perfec'  beauty  jus'  the  same  as  Sheba's  queen, 
An'  I  seed  'er  first  a-broodin'  a  whackin'  piece  o'  loot, 
A  big  white  egg  a-wastin'  right  underneath  'er  foot, 

Bloomin'  egg  as  white  as  chalk, 

't  would  make  collectors  walk 
Plucky  distance  for  to  see  it ;  if  they  got  it,  'ow  they'd  talk ! 

On  the  road  to  Mingulay  ! 

(Hiatus  valde  defiendus.) 

Ship  me  somewhere  north  of  Lewis,  though  the  weather  be  accurst, 
Where  the  decalogue's  not  in  it,  and  the  decapod  *  comes  first ; 
For  the  Herrin'  Gulls  are  callin',  and  it's  there  that  I  would  be, 
By  the  old  North  Rona  chapel,  sloping  southward  to  the  sea. 

On  the  road  to  Mingulay, 

Where  the  old  Shiantelle  lay, 
With  the  mushrooms  'neath  the  sunshine,  gleaming  white  on  Mingulay, 

On  the  road  to  Mingulay, 

Where  the  whales  an'  dolphins  play, 
An'  the  dawn  comes  up  like  thunder  outer  Skye  to  stop  all  day  ! 

In  June,  1893,  they  made  a  cruise  to  the  Outer 
Hebrides  and  to  the  Orkneys,  where  Newton  visited  one 
of  the  famous  haunts  of  the  Gare-fowl. 

I  had  a  delightful  fortnight  in  Scottish  waters, 
afloat  about  ten  days,  and  the  weather,  except  for 
24  hours,  everything  that  could  be  desired.  Even 
that  break  had  its  benefit,  for  it  made  all  the  rest 
the  more  enjoyable,  and  was  not  so  very  bad  while  it 
lasted.  I  was  carried  through  and  around  Orkney, 
close  alongside  of  the  Holm  of  Papa  Westray,  where 
Great  Auks  used  to  breed  ;  our  good  H.-B.  and 
Buckley  did  not  appreciate  that  fact,  and  like  the 
celebrated  Levite,  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

*  "The  lobsters  of  the  Outei  Hebrides  are  first-rate."  On  this  point 
all  voyagers  agree,  from  the  veneiable  Dr.  Johnson  to  the  present  time. — 
J.A.H.-B 


SIR  EDWARD  NEWTON  287 

Nevertheless,  I  accord  to  H.-B.  all  the  honour  and  glory 
of  identifying  the  spot  where  the  last  bond  fde  British 
Great  Auk  was  slain,  and  the  print  from  the  photograph 
in  the  "  Orkney  "  volume  is  marvellously  good. 

We  spent  a  peaceful  Sabbath  at  the  Shiants,  the 
third  time  I  have  been  to  that  heavenly  spot.  But  to 
see  the  effect  of  the  drought  even  there  !  What  had 
always  been  banks  of  glowing  green  (on  which  the 
Puffins  looked  like  daisies)  was  this  year  of  a  hair- 
brown.* 

His  last  cruise  was  in  1899,  when  the  Aster  went 
all  round  the  coast  of  Ireland. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Newton  suffered  the 
greatest  loss  of  his  lifetime  by  the  death  of  his  brother, 
Sir  Edward  Newton,  in  April,  1897.  Edward  was 
three  years  younger  than  Alfred,  having  been  born  in 
1832.  All  his  life  he  was  an  ardent  naturalist,  and  he 
began  to  contribute  notes  to  the  Zoologist  at  the  age  of 
twelve  and  a  half. 

He  was  almost  equal  to  a  warrener  in  the  way  he 
could  find  nests  by  watching  the  birds,  or  making  them 
show  him  where  their  nests  were.  There  are  now 
several  men  who  can  do  this,  and  have  done  it, 
probably  better  than  he  ever  did,  but  I  think  he  was 
the  first  naturalist  who  ever  brought  this  into  practice 
— and  it  was  for  the  love  of  watching  the  birds  and 
learning  their  ways,  much  more  than  with  the  object  of 
taking  their  eggs,  that  he  did  it.f 

From  Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  in  1857, 
Edward  Newton  went  into  the  Colonial  Service,  and 
was  successively  Assistant  Colonial  Secretary,  Auditor- 
General,  and  Colonial  Secretary  of  Mauritius ;  after- 
wards he  was  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Colonial 

*  Letter  to  Col.  H.  W.  FeUden,  August  14,  1893. 
t  Letter  to  H.  B.  Tristram,  May  20,  1897. 


288  LATER  YEARS 

Secretary  of  Jamaica.  He  was  created  C.M.G.  in  1875, 
and  K.C.M.G.  in  1887.  During  his  service  in  Mauritius 
he  discovered  no  fewer  than  twenty-seven  new  species 
of  birds  living  in  Madagascar,  the  Comoros,  and  Mas- 
carene  Islands,  and  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  dis- 
covery of  remains  of  the  Dodo,  Solitaire,  Aphanapteryx, 
and  other  extinct  birds  of  Mauritius  and  Rodriguez. 
He  retired  in  1883  to  a  house  at  Lowestoft,  whence  he 
often  made  visits  to  his  brother  at  Cambridge. 

The  loss  is  one  from  which  I  can  never  recover,  and 
it  is  one  which  has  at  once  made  me  feel  ten  years 
older.  We  had  absolutely  identical  tastes  and  pursuits 
throughout  fifty  years  and  more,  though  we  were  often 
separated  for  years.* 

To  say  that  he  felt  ten  years  older  was  no  idle 
phrase.  His  friends  remarked  a  definite  change  in  the 
Professor,  and  thenceforward,  though  his  age  was  only 
sixty-eight,  he  seemed  to  have  become  suddenly,  as 
some  men  do,  an  old  man.  He  was  still,  for  several 
years  to  come,  a  familiar  figure  in  the  streets  of 
Cambridge ;  if  the  four-wheeled  cab  took  him  to  the 
Museums  in  the  afternoon,  he  walked  back  to  Magdalene 
whenever  it  was  fine.  And  that  was  a  progress  that 
one  will  never  forget ;  the  tall  old  man — bent  as  he 
was,  he  certainly  stood  six  feet — dressed  in  an  old- 
fashioned  black  tail-coat,  light  grey  trousers,  and  black 
stove-pipe  hat,  or  in  summer  a  high-crowned  felt  hat 
of  pale  grey.  White  hair  and  whiskers  and  keen 
bright  eyes  that  seemed  to  be  fixed  on  the  horizon ;  but 
he  was  quick  to  see  a  greeting  from  a  passer-by,  and  he 
was  amazingly  dexterous  in  transferring  a  stick  to  the 
other  hand  in  order  to  salute  a  lady.  He  had  a  strong 
dislike  of  the  Cambridge  tramcars,  and  objected  to 

*  Letter  to  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  June,  1897. 


PORTRAITS  289 

their  being  taken  along  the  King's  Parade.  Often  on 
his  way  from  the  Museums  he  would  walk  down  the 
middle  of  the  street  from  Benet  Street  to  Market  Hill 
deaf  to  the  tinkling  bell  behind  him  ;  speed  mattered 
little  to  the  old  horse-drawn  trams  of  Cambridge,  and 
he  hardly  lived  to  see  the  day  of  motor  'busses. 

Two  attempts  were  made  to  paint  his  portrait.  The 
first  was  by  the  distinguished  artist  Charles  Furse,  who 
both  in  his  origins  and  in  his  tastes  had  much  in 
common  with  Newton,  but  for  some  reason  they  failed 
to  get  on  together,  and  the  picture  was  never  finished. 

For  the  last  five  days  I  have  been  surrendering  my 
body  wholly  to  my  Apelles,  and  I  fear  that  his  job  is 
not  much  more  than  half  done.  Some  people  think 
that  the  result  will  be  satisfactory ;  but  for  my  own 
part  I  as  yet  fail  to  recognise  in  the  performance  any 
trace  of  the  expression  of  chastened  resignation  which 
I  know  I  wear  while  the  process  is  going  on,  and  I  sit 
staring  at  a  blessed  gas  bracket,  which  is  the  object 
chosen  for  me  to  fix  my  eyes  upon.  However,  I  occa- 
sionally cast  furtive  glances  at  some  papers  that  lie 
before  me,  and  thus  the  whole  of  the  20  hours  the 
operation  has  so  far  taken  has  not  been  wholly  wasted, 
for  I  have  to  some  extent  revised  the  MS.  "  Birds  of 
Sussex,"  which  good  old  Borrer  submitted  to  me.* 

He  complains  later  (June  14)  that  the  "  thorny 
Furse  has  made  my  hand  look  like  an  overgrown 
baby's — fat  and  fubsy,  which  may  be  artistic,  but  I 
know  to  be  untrue." 

The  second  portrait  was  painted  by  Mr.  Lowes 
Dickinson,  and  was  considered  good  enough  to  be 
hung  in  the  Combination  Room  at  Magdalene. 

Honours  came  to  him  late  in  life :  he  had  been 
elected  F.R.S.  in  1870.  In  1900  he  was  awarded  one 

*  Jitter  to  Lord  Lilford,  May  31,  1890. 


290  LATER  YEARS 

of  the  Royal  Medals  of  the  Royal  Society  and  the  Gold 
Medal  of  the  Linuean  Society.  He  also  held  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  a  Vice-President  of  the  Royal  and 
Zoological  Societies.  An  old  friend  of  his,  and  a  friend 
also  of  Darwin  and  of  Wallace,  wrote  to  him  : — 

December  21,  1905. 

DEAR  PROFESSOR, 

I  cannot  refrain  from  sending  you  a  line  this 
Christmas.  I  am  now  in  my  ninetieth  year  and  may 
never  have  another  opportunity.  Though  I  have  not 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  lately,  I  am  always 
hearing  you  spoken  of  and  invariably  with  esteem  and 
regard.  Every  one  honours  Newton,  and  none  more 
sincerely  than, 

Yours  most  truly, 

W.  B.  TEGETMEIER. 

About  the  same  time,  November,  1905,  he  had  a 
bad  fall  in  coming  out  of  Hall ;  it  shook  him  seriously 
and  he  was  never  the  same  again.  But  he  did  not  give 
up  his  work  ;  he  was  then  finishing  off  the  "  Ootheca 
Wolleyana,"  and  he  began  already  to  make  plans  for 
the  future. 

It  will  indeed  be  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  get  this 
["  Ootheca  Wolleyana  "]  done,  and  if  I  only  keep  my  life 
and  faculties  I  ought  to  be  able  to  do  it.  Then  there 
is  the  Gare-fowl  business  to  which  I  am  pledged  if 
possible,  and  though  that  will  mean  a  great  deal  of 
work  I  am  not  without  hope  of  managing.  Beyond 
that  I  dare  not  look ;  but  there  are  over  50  years'  notes 
on  the  "  Bustard  in  Britain  "  to  solace  my  second  child- 
hood, if  that  should  come  about.  At  any  rate  I  am 
not  wanting  in  occupation  if  I  live  another  ten  years.* 

The  last  word  of  the  "  Ootheca "  was  written  on 
November  20,  1906,  and  the  final  part  was  published 

*  Letter  to  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton,  September  27,  1905. 


LAST  ILLNESS  291 

in  the  Spring  of  the  following  year.  The  Professor 
continued  to  keep  up  his  frequent  correspondence  with 
a  number  of  friends;  his  memory  was  unimpaired  and 
his  interest  in  other  people's  doings  was  as  keen  as  ever 
it  was,  but  he  was  not  fit  for  further  work.  In  May, 
1907,  he  was  beset  by  a  serious  attack  of  dropsy,  his 
first  real  illness  in  seventy-eight  years,  and  he  tried  to 
look  upon  it  in  his  customary  philosophical  way. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  I  have  been  laid  up  now  for  some 
weeks  with  a  most  obstinate  dropsical  attack,  which 
defies  the  strongest  drugs  the  doctors  have  been  dosing 
me  with.  I  am  almost  thinking  of  sending  to  Holland 
for  a  Dutch  engineer  to  come  and  drain  me,  after  which 
he  can  turn  his  hand  to  our  Fens,  where  I  hear  there  are 
just  now  hundreds  of  acres  under  water — whether  due  to 
the  bursting  of  a  bank  I  do  not  know.* 

A  few  days  later,  when  he  knew  that  his  illness 
would  be  his  last,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Harvie-Brown : — 

M.C.C., 
May  29,  1907. 

MY  DEAR  H.-B., 

For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  find  myself 
writing  to  you  as  a  serious  invalid,  for  though  my 
doctor  professes  to  be  hopeful  of  the  result,  I  can't  say 
that  I  feel  so  at  all,  but  that  a  stubborn  attack  of 
dropsy  which  took  me  some  weeks  ago  means  to  carry 
me  off.  I  am  thankful  to  say  that  so  far  it  is  not 
attended  by  any  pain — though  from  weakness  there  is 
considerable  amount  of  inconvenience,  which  must  be 
expected — but  I  have  much — very  much — to  be  thank- 
ful for,  and  indeed  have  received  blessings  innumerable. 
I  wish  I  could  have  lived  to  tell  "  The  Story  of  the 
Gare-fowl"  and  "The  Bustard  and  Britain,"  for  which 
I  have  laid  in  a  vast  stock  of  material,  but  perhaps 

*  Letter  to  W.  Eagle-Clarke,  May  21,  1907. 


292  LATER  YEARS 

some  one  else  may  be  found  to  use  it  efficiently.     I  think 
a  nice  book  could  be  made  out  of  each  batch. 

As  to  myself  I  trust  I  am  sufficiently  thankful,  for 
I  have  had  a  life  to  be  thankful  for.  I  have  known 
some  of  the  best  of  men  whom  I  could  know,  and  what 
is  more  have  been  on  the  best  terms  of  friendship  with 
them,  and  it  has  certainly  pleased  God  to  bless  me  in 
countless  ways  and  particularly  in  my  Natural  History 
acquaintances,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  By  a  most 
wonderful  combination  of  circumstances  I  came  in  for 
the  Travelling  Fellowship  of  this  College — the  only  thing 
of  its  kind,  and  the  very  thing  that  suited  me  !  Then 
again,  by  a  like  wonderful  chance,  the  newly  founded 
Professorship  of  Zoology  in  the  University  fell  to  me  ! 
If  it  had  been  worth  more  some  better  man  would  have 
tried  for  it  and  got  it.  But  it  was  just  what  I  wanted, 
and  though  many  others  would  have  done  much  more 
with  it,  I  am  not  sure  that  the  study  of  Zoology  in  the 
University  would  have  been  thereby  really  helped. 
So  God  bless  you, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

A  few  days  before  the  end  an  old  friend,  Mr.  J.  J. 
Lister,  went  to  see  him  when  he  was  in  great  distress. 
"  I  have  had  a  very  happy  life,"  he  said. 

The  evening  before  he  died  the  Master  was  sent  for. 
A  prayer  was  said  and  then  the  Professor  wished  him 
good-bye.  "  God  bless  all  my  friends — God  bless  the 
College — and  may  the  study  of  Zoology  continue  to 
flourish  in  the  University."  A  little  later — his  breath- 
ing was  very  laboured  and  he  could  speak  only  with 
difficulty — he  asked  to  be  lifted  up.  "I  must  die  in  my 
chair,  like  dear  Bradshaw."  So,  on  June  7,  1907,  he 
died. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

THE  following  letters  written  to  and  by  Newton, 
dealing  with  various  subjects,  which  do  not  find  a  place 
in  the  foregoing  chapters,  are  arranged  in  order  of  date. 

From  John  Wolley  to  A.N.  :— 

Muonioniska, 

November  15,  1853. 

Ludwig  Knoblock  tells  me  the  following  as  a  Finnish 
story.  Kiowroo  (one  of  the  names  of  the  devil,  for  he 
has  very  many  in  Finland)  had  taken  a  lad  as  drang 
for  one  year,  a  lad  of  seventeen  years  of  age  and  very 
clever.  Kiowroo  was  somewhat  jealous  of  him,  and 
would  constantly  have  wagers  with  him  which  could  do 
things  best. 

One  day  they  agreed  to  see  which  could  bear  the 
heavy  trunk  of  a  tree  furthest  without  setting  his  end 
to  the  ground.  They  agreed  that  whoever  had  the 
small  end  must  go  first,  and  if  he  looked  back  the  other 
might  poke  him  in  the  eye  besides  winning  the  wager. 
The  boy  said  he  was  quite  ready  to  take  the  large  end, 
so  off  they  started.  But  they  had  not  gone  far  before 
the  lad  slipped  his  share  upon  the  ground  and  sat  upon 
it ;  Kiowroo  suspected  something  but  he  durst  not  look 
back  for  the  lad  called  out  that  he  had  a  sharp  spike 
ready  for  his  eye  in  case  he  turned  his  head.  At  last  he 
could  go  no  further  and  began  to  say  it  was  wonderfully 
heavy,  but  the  lad  declared  he  did  not  feel  it  at  all. 
Presently  he  could  not  stand  it  any  longer,  but  let  his 
end  drop :  and  before  he  dare  look  round  the  lad  was 
on  his  legs  with  the  tree  upon  his  shoulder.  So  the 
devil  lost  that  wager. 

Another  day  they  were  to  try  which  could  drive  his 


294  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

head  hardest  against  a  tree.  The  boy  slipped  away 
and  cut  a  hole  in  a  tree  just  so  deep  as  half  his  head, 
and  covered  the  place  with  bark.  When  the  trial  came 
off  the  boy  tried  first,  and  his  head  was  buried  down  to 
the  eyes  in  the  wood.  The  devil  came  after  and 
smashed  off  a  great  piece  of  bark  with  the  wood  under 
it,  but  his  head  went  nothing  like  so  deep  as  the  lad's, 
so  he  lost  that  wager  too. 

Next  they  had  a  dispute  which  could  throw  highest 
an  enormous  hammer.  The  devil  cast  it  to  the  roof  of 
a  high  room,  but  the  drang  waited  a  little ;  and  the 
devil  said,  "Go  on."  The  lad  replied:  "I  am  only 
stopping  till  that  black  cloud  comes  overhead,  that  I 
may  throw  it  upon  it."  The  devil  said  :  "  Nay,  nay,  my 
father's  old  hammer,  I  will  pay  you  the  money  rather." 

Down,  Bromley,  Kent,  S.E., 

January  19,  1867. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, 

Will  you  have  the  kindness  to  give  me  some 
information  on  one  point?  Not  long  since  I  was 
speaking  to  Mr.  Wallace  about  his  mimetic  butterflies, 
and  I  told  him  of  the  case  of  the  Rkynchcea,  of  which 
the  female  is  more  beautiful  than  the  male,  with  the 
young  resembling  the  latter.  He  answered  me  that 
you  at  Nottingham  had  advanced  this  or  some  such 
case,  and  that  you  had  simply  explained  it  by  the 
male  being  the  incubator.  I  should  be  extremely 
obliged  if  you  would  give  me  any  information  on  this 
head  and  allow  me  to  quote  you.  The  subject  interests 
me  greatly,  as  in  the  4th  Edition  of  the  "  Origin  "  I  gave 
the  obvious  explanation  of  female  birds  not  being 
gaudily  coloured,  etc.,  on  account  of  their  incubating ; 
1  knew  then  of  the  Rhynclicea  but  passed  over  the  case, 
from  not  having  space  and  from  its  appearing  to  me 
quite  inexplicable. 

I  hope  that  you  will  forgive  me  troubling  you,  and 
believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  sincerely, 

CHAKLES  DARWIN. 


CHARLES  DARWIN  295 

P.S. — As  I  am  writing,  I  will  ask  one  other  ques- 
tion, for  the  chance  of  your  being  able  to  answer  it. 
Does  the  male  black  Australian  swan,  or  the  black  and 
white  S.  American  swan,  differ  from  the  females  in 
plumage  ?  i.e.  in  the  intensity  of  the  black,  or  in  the 
amount  of  black  in  the  black-necked  species  ? 

Down,  Bromley,  Kent,  S.E., 

March  4,  1867. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, 

Very  many  thanks  about  the  Dotterel,  and  I 
am  pleased  to  hear  of  this  additional  evidence.  I  have 
looked  to  Swinhoe's  papers,  but  the  case  does  not  seem 
very  conclusive.  After  writing  to  you  I  remembered 
that  the  female  of  the  Carrion-hawk  of  the  Falkland  Fs. 
(formerly  called  Polyborus  N.  Zealandii]  is  very  much 
brighter  coloured  than  the  male,  as  I  ascertained 
("  Zool.  Voyage  of  Beagle :  Birds  ")  by  dissection  ;  I 
have  written  to  the  Missionaries  there  about  its 
nidification  and  if  I  receive  any  answer,  will  in- 
form you. 

The  other  day  I  thought  I  had  got  a  case  at  the 
Zoological  Gardens  in  the  Casuarinus  galeatus,  in 
which  the  female  has  the  finest  and  brightest  caruncles, 
etc.,  but  Sclater  tells  me  it  would  be  rash  to  trust  to 
the  comparison  of  a  single  pair,  and  he  tells  me  that 
the  male  Ostrich  has  the  finest  plumes. 
With  my  best  thanks, 

I  remain  my  dear  Sir, 
Yours  very  sincerely, 

CHARLES  DARWIN. 

P.S. — Mr.  Blyth  tells  me  that  according  to  Jerdan 
the  natives  say  the  male  Turnix  alone  incubates  and 
attends  to  young. 

There  is  another  consideration  which  might  lead  to 
the  female  being  the  most  beautiful,  viz.,  if  they  were 
the  more  numerous  than  the  males  and  the  species  were 
not  polygamous,  for  in  this  case  the  more  beautiful 
females  would  be  selected. 


296  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

Eversley  Rectory,  Winchfield, 

April,  1867. 

MY  DEAR  NEWTON, 

Terrible  hard  work— and  a  sad  death  in  our 
family,  have  prevented  my  thanking  you  and  John 
Clark  for  your  kind  correction  of  my  lecture. 

I  am  very  glad  to  know  what  the  Bearded  Tit  feeds 
on  and  that  it  is  not  a  Shrike.  But  most  thankful  am 
I  for  your  guess  at  ficedulse.  It  is  proof  of  high 
critical  power — you  should  take  to  editing  Greek 
plays. 

I  knew  ficedulse  was  "  beccaficos."  But  thought  the 
French  used  it  for  Wheatears  and  other  little  birds. 
But  ficedulse  is  a  delightful  correction.  But  "  hawks  " 
for  "  auetes  "  was  the  printer's  error. 

I  am  well  pleased  that  you  found  so  little  fault  with 
the  whole.  I  omitted  the  antiquity  of  man,  and  flint 
implements  :  because  it  was  unfair  to  commit  good 
Norman  McLeod,  who  is  a  martyr  already  to  his  liberal 
opinions,  responsible  for  the  discussing  so  great  a  subject 
in  a  single  paragraph. 

Thank  God,  the  birds  are  coming — which  always 
make  my  heart  grow  young  again.  Chiffchaff,  wryneck, 
wheatear,  and  garden  warbler  are  here,  and  I  am 
straining  my  ears  everywhere  for  that  jolly  little 
feathered  Bacchus,  the  black  cap.  I  will  see  Stevenson's 
"  Birds  of  Norfolk."  I  was  very  sorry  to  hear  of  your 
illness ;  but  I  was  told  it  was  gout. 

Ever  yours  obliged, 

C.  KlNGSLEY. 

London, 

January  18,  1870. 

DEAR  NEWTON, 

Can  you  inform  me  if  there  is  any  canal  you 
know  of  in  your  part  of  the  country  with  a  straight 
piece  (without  locks)  five  or  six  miles  long,  or  any 
piece  of  water  of  that  extent  ?  I  have  undertaken  (for 
a  heavy  wager)  to  prove  by  measurement  the  rotundity 
of  the  earth,  to  one  of  those  strange  phenomena  who 


A.  R.  WALLACE  297 

do  not  believe  in  it  and  who  is  willing  to  pay  to  be 
enlightened. 

Will  you  also  give  me  your  advice  on  another  point  ? 
I  am  about  to  publish  all  my  papers  which  bear  upon 
Natural  Selection,  etc.,  in  a  volume.  I  should  like  an 
attractive  title,  but  will  not  have  a  misleading  one.  I 
have  at  present  fixed  upon  "  Contributions  to  the  Theory 
of  Natural  Selection.  A  Series  of  Essays,"  as  exactly 
expressing  what  the  book  will  be.  Macmillan  has  a 
dislike  to  the  word  Contributions,  and  wants  me  to  call 
it  " Essays  on  Natural  Selection,"  or  "On  Natural 
Selection  ;  a  Series  of  Essays."  But  these  indicate  too 
much  a  complete  work  on  a  definite  subject  to  please 
me. 

Do  you  think  my  title  will  do,  or  can  you  suggest 
anything  quite  different  ? 

Yours  very  faithfully, 

ALFRED  R.  WALLACE. 


A.N.  to  Edward  Newton  : — 


Cambridge, 

April  14,  1870. 


He  told  me  the  day  I  got  there  that  the  digging 
which  Greenwell  (he  is  a  Canon  of  Durham  and  the 
greatest  resurrectionist  in  England)  has  been  carry- 
ing on  for  some  years  at  Grime's  Graves  on  Weeting, 
behind  Broomhill,  had  at  last  produced  something,  and 
I  made  Newcome  drive  me  over  next  day.  Last  year  I 
went  there  but  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  but  a  great 
number  of  depressions  (about  200  they  say)  like  ordinary 
disused  stone  pits. 

All  the  old  antiquaries  have  always  said  that  these 
were  the  remains  of  an  ancient  British  village  or  town ; 
but  Greenwell  found  the  country  all  round,  and  particu- 
larly on  the  Brandon  side,  so  covered  with  old  worked 
flints  that  he  was  sure  that  the  depressions  were  the 
remains  of  pits  made  in  the  old  time  to  get  flint.  It 
•now  appears  that  he  was  right,  and  1  don't  know 


298  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

when  I  have  been  more  interested  than  with  the  results. 
At  the  beginning  of  last  week,  after  he  had  been  digging 
out  the  rubbish  from  one  of  these  pits  (he  began  3 
years  ago,  but  of  course  only  worked  occasionally)  and 
had  got  down  by  the  side  of  the  solid  chalk  about  39 
feet,  he  found  a  horizontal  opening;  clearing  this  he 
found  it  was  the  entrance  to  a  gallery,  or  rather  series 
of  galleries,  and  these  he  has  since  been  clearing  out ; 
for  the  makers  of  these  galleries,  after  they  had  got 
what  they  wanted,  seemed  to  have  filled  in  some  of 
them  with  the  chalk  they  excavated  from  the  others — of 
course,  to  save  the  trouble  of  hoisting  it  to  the  top. 
These  galleries  run  in  almost  every  direction,  with  only 
enough  between  them  to  keep  the  roof  from  falling  in, 
and  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  object  with  which  they 
were  cut  was  to  get  at  the  "  floor  flint,"  a  stratum 
of  the  finest  and  hardest  flint  some  9  to  12  inches  thick 
which  lies  at  that  depth  and  is  entirely  removed  from 
the  galleries.  One  of  these  is  either  27  or  29  feet  long, 
and  appears  to  have  communicated  with  a  similar  shaft 
now  nearly  filled  up  and  forming  the  next  depression, 
and  there  seems  a  probability  that  the  whole  formed  an 
immense  series  of  "  pot-holes  "  (like  those  they  used  to 
take  rabbits  in  on  the  warrens).  The  gallery  at  the 
entrance  is  nearly  high  enough  to  stand  in,  say  5  feet, 
but  it  soon  diminishes  and  the  branches  are  not  above 
3  feet  high,  some  of  them  less,  so  that  the  miners  must 
have  lain  on  their  side  just  as  pit-men  do  now  in  the 
collieries.  But  the  best  thing  has  to  come ;  these 
galleries  were  all  excavated  with  picks  made  of  Stags' 
horns  !  more  than  a  dozen  of  which  have  been  found  in 
this  one  pit,  among  the  rubbish  or  quite  at  the  end  of 
the  galleries.  Whether  this  pit  ever  caved  in  and  the 
workers  had  to  leave  their  tools  one  can't  say,  but 
probably  it  was  so.  The  next  that  is  opened  will 
probably  show ;  for  one  cannot  think  that  the  picks 
were  of  no  value,  some  indeed  are  quite  worn,  but  the 
others  are  quite  fresh.  The  horns  are  longer  than  the 
average  fen  horn,  but  not  so  big  as  those  of  the  drift. 


FLINT  PITS  299 

A  few  splinters  of  flint  are  found,  but  very  few, 
showing  how  careful  the  men  were  about  every  morsel 
of  it  they  broke  off,  and  one  rough  flint  axe  or  "  celt." 

The  big  and  royal  antlers  are  broken  off  the  horns 
and  then  you  have  a  capital  pick.  Nearly  all  the  horns 
are  naturally  shed,  there  were,  I  think,  only  3  taken 
off  dead  deer,  and  this  is  curious,  for  however  abundant 
deer  may  have  been,  it  is  notorious  that  the  finding  of 
shed  horns  is  a  rarity.  I  got  a  very  good  pick  which 
was  found  and  brought  "  to  bank  "  while  I  was  there  ; 
it  has  been  much  used,  the  point  blunted  and  hammer 
end  worn  by  use. 

Of  other  "  works  of  art "  I  saw  several  shallow  cups 
cut  out  of  chalk,  which  it  is  suggested  may  have  been 
used  as  lamps.  I  went  down  the  ladder  and  into  one 
gallery  ;  the  pick  marks  on  the  walls  and  roof  are  as 
plain  and  fresh-looking  as  possible  and  Greenwell 
declares  some  of  the  picks  have  thumb  or  finger  marks 
(showing  the  grain  of  the  skin)  in  the  fine  chalk  with 
which  they  are  now  encrusted.  There  is  no  doubt  about 
the  existence  of  these  marks,  but  I  found  I  could  make 
them  for  myself  and  I  doubt  their  being  impressions  of 
the  skin  of  their  ancient  proprietors. 

Altogether  the  discovery  is  very  wonderful,  and  I 
hope  other  people  will  go  to  work  and  open  some  more 
pits.  You  may  fairly  give  them  an  age  of  2000  years, 
for  it  is  clear  that  metal  was  unknown  at  the  time. 

Greenwell  is  convinced  that  if  more  pits  are  opened 
they  will  find  the  skeleton  of  some  ancient  miner  who 
was  overwhelmed  by  a  fall ;  it  is  very  likely,  and  I  hope 
the  search  will  be  continued,  but  Angerstein  as  you 
know  is  a  queer  customer  and  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  crotchet  he  may  have. 

A.N.  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown  : — 

Bloxworth,  Blandford, 

August  29,  1876. 

I  am  very  glad  to  have  your  confirmation  of  my 
opinion  as  to  there  being  dialects  in  the  song  of  birds. 


300  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

I  believe  that  the  notion  first  occurred  to  me  the  first 
day  I  ever  landed  in  Norway.  This  was  at  Christiansand 
in  May,  1855,  and  I  was  immediately  struck  with  the 
songs  of  the  Redstarts  and  Wheatears  sounding 
differently  from  those  I  had  been  hearing  only  a  few 
days  before  at  home.  I  thought,  however,  that  some  of 
the  difference  might  be  due  to  rocky  localities  in  which 
I  heard  the  Norwegian  birds,  and  I  am  now  not  sure 
that  in  some  cases  this  may  not  have  something  to  do 
with  the  difference  in  tone,  especially  if  the  sound  does 
not  strike  one's  ear  directly  but  is  reflected  from  stones 
or  rocks. 

Still  I  am  quite  inclined  to  believe  that  part  of  the 
difference  at  least  is  actually  local  and  I  see  no  reason 
why  the  notes  should  not  vary.  The  case  of  your 
particularly  full-voiced  Redwing  might  be  an  individual 
peculiarity  >  for  every  one  must  have  observed  what  a 
difference  there  is  between  the  song  of  one  Song-Thrush 
and  another.  I  should  say  that  I  never  heard  two  sing 
exactly  alike,  and  it  is  easy  to  recognise  the  same  bird 
day  after  day,  not  to  say  season  after  season.  Of  all 
our  birds  this  difference  is  perhaps  most  easily  noticed 
in  the  Song-Thrush  on  account  of  its  loud  notes  and  the 
abundance  and  familiarity  of  the  species  ;  but  I  have 
noticed  it  nearly  as  conspicuously  in  the  Nightingale  and 
also  decidedly  with  Skylark  and  Blackbird,  I  believe 
also  in  the  Chaffinch,  Willow- Wren  and  some  others. 
If  then  there  be,  as  there  certainly  is,  this  individual 
difference,  it  is  not  unnatural  to  suppose  that  it  may  be 
(like  other  individual  differences)  hereditary,  and  as 
there  must  in  the  majority  of  cases  be  greater  con- 
sanguinity between  (say)  the  Redstarts  and  Wheatears  of 
Christiansand  than  between  the  same  birds  in  Suffolk 
the  matter  seems  capable  of  easy  explanation.  An  ex- 
tension of  the  principle  will  to  some  degree  suggest  a 
reasonable  theory  of  the  "  confusion  of  tongues"  with- 
out a  Tower  of  Babel ! 


BLACKGAME.    OWLS  301 

A.N.  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown : — 

10,  Beaufort  Gardens,  S.W. 

January  10,  1877. 

It  is  quite  a  new  notion  to  me  that  the  Capercally 
drives  out  the  Blackgame.  Without  intimating  any 
doubt — because  indeed  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  doubt 
or  to  believe — I  will,  however,  ask  you  to  be  fully  satis- 
fied that  this  is  the  case.  I  know  how  fond  game- 
keepers and  others  are  of  imagining  that  such  or  such  a 
thing  has  caused  a  diminution  of  game.  Thus  it  has 
grown  to  be  a  prevalent  belief  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk 
that  French  Partridges  drive  away  the  grey  birds.  I  in 
former  years  had  ample  opportunity  of  seeing  both 
species  and  made  pretty  good  use  of  it,  and  I  am  con- 
vinced that  the  belief  has  not  a  particle  of  foundation. 
Again  I  know  from  experience  in  Dorsetshire  that  in 
some  seasons  Blackgame  are  unaccountably  scarce  and 
in  others  unaccountably  plentiful,  and  there  there  are  no 
Capercallies  at  all. 

I  am  just  returned  from  Brighton  where  I  saw 
Mr.  Booth's  collection.  He  seems  to  have  murdered 
several  Eagles  last  spring  at  their  nests  ! 

Bloxworth,  September  20,  1877. 

DEAR  LILFORD, 

Concerning  Owls  :  both  last  year  and  this  I 
have  been  exercised  in  regard  to  an  Owl  that  comes  and 
hoots  in  trees  near  this  house.  On  more  than  one 
occasion  last  year  my  brother  Edward  and  myself  saw 
a  Barn  Owl  fly  from  a  tree  whence  such  hooting  had 
been  heard  but  a  few  minutes  before,  and  no  Brown 
Owl  could  be  found  in  or  flushed  from  the  said  tree.  Is 
it  possible  that  after  all  the  Barn  Owl  may  hoot  after  a 
fashion;  for  I  ought  to  say  that  this  note  is  not  the 
regular  "  Tu-whit,  Tu-whoo,"  but  a  wavering  "  whoo- 
yoo-o-yoo-yoo,"  preceded  and  followed  by  horrid  and 
unholy  shrieks  ? 

I  won't  have  that  Durham  Canon  arrogate  "  Tit- 
mousen  "  to  himself.  He  only  heard  it  from  me  (vide 


302  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

Yarrell,  "Br.  B.,"  ed.  4,  i.  p.  490,  note).  These  same 
birds  are  scarce  with  us  this  autumn.  In  the  garden 
here  there  are  no  honeysuckle  berries,  and  not  a  Parun 
palustris  have  I  in  consequence  seen  at  a  bower  just 
opposite  my  window. 

Now  that  you  remind  me  of  it,  I  think  that  I  too 
have  heard  Titmousen  cry  in  alarm  when  a  Woodcock 
has  been  on  the  wing.  It  must  be  an  Owl  they  take 
it  for,  and  I  know  the  Long-eared  Owl  preys  at  times 
on  small  birds,  so  there  is  some  ground  for  their 
terror. 

I  believe  I  told  you  of  my  seeing  11  Blackgame 
(9  in  one  field)  one  day  about  a  week  ago.  I  have 
seen  nothing  of  any  importance  since.  I  expect  to  be 
making  my  start  about  this  day  fortnight. 

Do  you  like  eels  ?  I  don't,  but  not  exactly  on  the 
ground  assigned  by  a  Yankee  :  "  Do  you  think,  sir,  I'd 
eat  a  darned  damp  snake  ?  " 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

P.S. — I  ought  to  have  said  that  the  venison  turned 
out  an  unmixed  comfort. 

A.N.  to  Rev.  A.  C.  Smith  :— 

October  31,  1878. 

I  fully  expected  that  some  of  my  friends  would  be 
startled  at  the  way  I  dealt  with  the  Crows ;  but  I  am 
eorry  to  hear  that  you  are  distressed  at  it.  I  can  only 
say  I  was  forced  to  it  by  the  evidence,  which  I  tried  to 
consider  as  fairly  as  possible.  If  I  had  any  bias  it  was 
to  have  things  as  they  always  have  been,  but  the 
evidence  was  too  strong  for  me.  Be  sure,  however, 
that  I  shall  not  quarrel  with  those  who  don't  see  it  as  I 
do,  and,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  to  the  "  British  Bird" 
public  the  Black  and  Grey  Crows  will  long  stand  as 
distinct  "  species." 

I  thought  I  had  said  enough  about  Rook  shooting. 
As  a  "  sport "  it  has  no  charms  for  me,  but  rather 


ROOKERIES  303 

inspires  disgust.  Still  I  am  not  sure  that  as  regards 
the  welfare  of  the  species  the  practice  is  detrimental. 
It  reduces  the  number  of  mouths  to  be  fed  and  the 
survivors  must  consequently  thrive  in  proportion.  If 
there  was  no  Rook-shooting  we  should  doubtless  have  a 
large  emigration  of  young  Rooks  in  autumn,  and  a 
very  small  number  of  the  emigrants  would  return  in  the 
spring.  As  it  is  the  emigration  is  hardly  perceptible, 
perhaps  being  no  greater  than  the  immigration  in 
spring. 

The  varied  fortune  of  rookeries  is  indeed  very 
curious,  and  their  waxing  and  waning  would  be  a 
wonderfully  interesting  subject  to  investigate ;  of 
course,  in  almost  every  case  the  supply  of  food  is  the 
turning-point.  We  have,  as  I  dare  say  you  know,  an 
abundance  of  Rooks  here,  not,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  in  the 
garden  of  this  College ;  but  from  St.  John's  to  Downing 
is  an  almost  continuous  rookery  so  far  as  the  presence 
of  trees  admit.  When  I  first  knew  Cambridge  I  think 
there  were  two  distinct  establishments  ;  that  in  the 
Johnian  "  wilderness,"  and  that  in  the  trees  fronting 
Cat's  Hall.  The  former  has  spread  in  extent,  though  I 
am  not  sure  there  are  more  birds,  partly  owing  to  many 
trees  having  been  blown  down,  and  the  latter  certainly 
has  more  nests  than  it  used.  There  are  nests  at 
intervals  all  along  the  backs  of  the  Colleges  as  far  as 
Queen's ;  so  that  really,  as  I  have  said,  there  is  scarcely 
any  breach  of  continuity.  Downing,  too,  is  but  a  skip 
and  a  flutter  from  Cat's,  and  since  the  Downing  trees 
have  grown  up,  Rooks  have  taken  to  them  immensely. 
There  is  also  a  nest  or  two  in  the  garden  of  Caius  though 
quite  surrounded  by  buildings,  and  some  at  Sidney.  I 
wish  we  had  some  in  our  grounds,  but  I  suspect  our 
trees  are  not  to  their  liking. 

July  24,  1879. 
MY   DEAR   LlLFORD, 

I  had  nearly   omitted   to   notice  your  kind 
offer  of  Flamingoes'  eggs,  for  which  I  thank  you  much  ; 


304  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

but  unless  they  are  from  some  new  locality  or  possess 
some  other  remarkable  qualification,  I  will  not  trespass 
on  your  bounty.  I  have  specimens  from  Spain,  France, 
and  India,  and  there  is  a ."  damnable  iteration  "  about 
them  all.  Why  does  not  some  one  bring  home  a 
Flamingo's  nest  ?  the  whole  pillar  of  mud  in  which  the 
hen  "  s'assoit,  comme  Monsieur  sur  une  vase  " — as  the 
Frenchman  told  J.  W.  Clark.  There  is  a  deal  of  in- 
teresting matter  to  be  got  out  of  this  bird.  How  does 
it  collect  the  mud,  and  how  heap  it  up  ?  To  this  day 
the  best  authority  on  the  subject  is  old  Dampier, 
who  wrote  more  than  200  years  ago.  If  the  gentle- 
men of  England  who  go  abroad  at  ease  would  look  after 
a  few  things  like  this  they  would  cap  their  exploits, 
which  of  course  already  surpass  those  of  the  orni- 
thologists of  any  other  nation. 

Your  hybrid  Owl  must  be  a  really  funny  fellow. 
Do  pray  have  his  portrait  taken,  and  at  least  twice  ; 
once  before  he  loses  his  first  plumage,  and  then  when 
he  gets  his  next  suit.  All  young  Owls,  so  far  as  I 
know,  have  dark  irides ;  when  he  gets  older  he  will 
probably  have  them  a  half-and-half  colour,  something 
between  Bass  and  Guiness. 

I  went  to  Baker's  to-day  and  saw  the  son  (whom  by 
the  way,  I  believe  to  be  a  good  honest  lad).  I  told 
him  his  father  was  very  foolish  not  to  send  you  your 
bird  at  once.  He  has  had  an  Eagle  of  my  brother's 
some  8  or  9  years.  It  is  always  coming  home  next 
week ! 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

S.S.  Glouworm,  R.Y.S.,  Dartmouth, 

August  8,  1883. 

MY  DEAR  NEWTON, 

Your  information  about  Great  Auk's  egg  is 
correct,  I  saw  it  at  Burton's ;  a  very  fair  good  specimen 
with  a  largeish  fracture  or  irregular  orifice  at  the  small 
end,  which  had  been  tolerably  patched  up ;  it  had  the 


LORD  LILFORD  305 

word  "  Pingouin,"  or  part  thereof,  written  on  it  in  two 
places.  I  had  a  letter  from  Franck  on  19th  ult.  saying 
that  the  lowest  price  was  £150,  and  that  it  was  the 
finest  specimen  in  the  world.  I  declined  to  buy,  and 
know  no  more  about  it  except  that  Burton  told  me  that 
Frauck  had  bought  it  for  the  Continent,  and  that  I  told 
several  people  about  it. 

My  doings  since  I  last  saw  you  are  shortly  told. 
I  went  with  my  wife  and  youngest  boy  to-  Biarritz  at 
the  end  of  January,  stayed  there  much  bored  for  about 
three  weeks  and  went  on  to  Seville  via  Madrid  about 
the  end  of  February.  I  had  this  vessel  in  the  river, 
but  lived  at  pothouse,  made  several  expeditions  down 
the  river,  but  was  much  hampered  during  March  and 
early  April  by  bad  weather.  We  shot  about  20  Great 
Bustards,  and  nothing  else  worthy  of  remark  except  a 
pair  of  Sterna  Caspica,  rare  birds  in  those  parts,  never 
met  with  before  by  self  or  Irby.  Flamingoes  were 
more  numerous  than  I  ever  saw  them  before,  but  at 
their  nesting  time  /  was  crippled  by  gout  in  the  right 
hand,  not  very  severe  but  sufficiently  so  to  prevent 
any  pleasure  in  locomotion,  and  I  could  not  inspire 
my  boy  to  wade  some  two  or  three  miles  of  mud  and 
water  to  the  Lucio  seal,  which  is  no  doubt  the  spot 
where  Abel  Chapman  tells  in  last  Ibis  of  having  seen 
them  on  their  nests.  I  joined  my  wife  at  Granada 
towards  the  end  of  May,  and  came  home  thence  by 
Cordova,  Madrid  and  Paris.  Went  to  Neuevahn  with 
Irby  at  beginning  of  June,  he  caught  several  swallow- 
tailed  Flutter-bugs,  P.  podalirius,  with  his  boy  from 
Darmstadt,  and  remained  in  apparently  comparative 
contentment  for  ten  days.  My  wife  joined  me,  we 
found  nest  of  Cycmecula  wolji.  I  bathed,  drank,  and 
came  to  London  at  the  beginning  of  July,  was  detained 
there  by  bad  weather  for  several  days.  Did  my 
Fisheries  Exto  several  times  as  well  as  a  bath-chairist 
could.  Met  your  brother  there,  the  "worthy  Magis- 
trate," who  told  of  your  worthy  self;  and  came  down 
here  about  three  weeks  ago.  Weather  and  fishing 


306  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

very  indifferent,  hardly  any  Kittiwakes  now  on  the 
coast,  a  good  many  when  we  first  arrived,  but  no  pro- 
pagation in  these  parts  of  that  species.  We  shall  be 
going  to  Lilford  about  the  middle  of  next  week.  Shall 
I  send  you  some  venison  ?  And  if  so,  whither  ?  Irby 
has  hired  a  shoot  of  some  4000  acres  near  Wimborne, 
where  he  has  a  good  breed  of  partridges,  and  expects 
to  slay  snipes.  There  are  a  few  Blackgame. 

Let  me  hear  how  you  are.  I  hope  the  rheumatism 
has  left  you  in  peace  of  late. 

Did  you  hear  tell  of  a  mourning  friend  at  poor  Jack 
Russell's  funeral,  who  hearing  a  bystander  remark  that 
the  flowers,  wreaths,  etc.,  in  the  grave  were  very  beau- 
tiful, said,  "Yez,  it  is  very  luvly,  sheur  enuf,  but  I 
rackon  the  dear  old  feller  eud  zeuner  lie  in  a  vu-z  brake." 
My  wife  sends  her  very  kind  remembrances. 

Yours  very  truly, 

LILFORD. 


S.S.  Glowiwrtn,  R.Y.S.,  Dartmouth, 

August  12, 1883. 

MY  DEAR  NEWTON, 

Thank  you  very  much  for  yours  of  10th  to 
hand  yesterday.  I  should  like  to  hear  what  becomes 
of  the  egg  of  Great  Auk.  I  would  have  given  £100  for 
it,  but  did  not  particularly  care  to  make  an  offer. 
I  told  Seebohn  about  it,  but  he  did  not  seem 
to  rise. 

About  the  killing  of  Otis  tarda  in  Spain,  I  wanted 
some  choice  specimens  and  as  I  found  that  there  is  now 
a  demand  for  them  in  Seville  for  culinary  purposes, 
besides  a  little  French  widow  who  buys  all  she  can  get 
at  2  $.  for  preserving  and  sending  to  Paris,  thinks  I  that 
we  may  as  well  have  our  share.  With  3  exceptions  all 
that  we  shot  were  old  males.  There  is  no  fear  of  the 
extinction  of  the  species  in  Spain,  as  the  Marisma  of  the 
Guadalquivir  seems  to  be  the  only  district  in  which 
they  are  bullied  by  man  to  any  extent,  and  with  the 
exception  of  a  wandering  Bonelli's  Eagle  they  have 


MISTLETOE  307 

there  no  other  enemies.  We  saw  a  very  great  number, 
and  they  are  very  wide  awake  in  the  day  time  but 
though  no  amount  of  driving  and  fair  shooting  will 
materially  affect  the  species,  the  demand  aforesaid  in 
Seville  has  evoked  a  murderous  practice  of  shooting  them 
with  lantern  and  bell  at  nights,  which  is  most  destructive 
to  the  male  birds,  but  they  are  if  not  polygamous  "  muy 
putaneros,"  as  a  young  Spaniard  said  to  me,  and  every 
healthy  old  male  treads  every  female  that  he  can  get  at. 

If  you  could  spare  the  necessary  time,  there  would 
be  little  difficulty  in  seeing  Phcenicopterus  at  his  home 
either  in  Spain  or  in  Sardinia. 

You  are  right  in  supposing  that  I  blundered  about 
Cyanecula ;  those  we  found  at  Neuevahn  were  the 
white-spotted  race,  which  is  apparently  entirely  un- 
known to  the  natives  of  those  parts. 

We  go  to  Lilford  this  week,  when  you  shall  promptly 
have  some  venison.  I  do  not  know  exactly  whereabouts 
Irby's  shoot  is,  but  I  believe  that  Wimborne  is  his  post 
town.  I  have  j  ust  heard  of  a  nest  of  Hobby  near  Lilford, 
but  not  on  my  own  territory. 

Yours  very  truly, 

LILFORD. 

December  20,  1890. 

MY  DEAR  LILFORD, 

It  is  the  very  Viscus  berry  itself  that 
T.  viscivorus  visits  the  tree  opposite  my  window  to 
devour,  the  tree  being  an  old  apple  with  a  fine  growth 
of  Mistletoe  upon  it.  In  all  the  more  than  26  years 
that  I  have  been  here  I  have  never  seen  any  other  bird 
touch  a  Mistletoe  berry  save  a  Robin  on  one  single 
occasion  ;  but  T.  viscivorus  clears  them  all  off  when 
they  are  really  ripe.  This  very  morning  there  sat  a 
wretched  Song-Thrush,  with  plenty  of  Mistletoe  berries 
over  his  head  and  around  him,  but  he  did  not  even  look 
at  them,  and  so  it  always  is.  Yet  the  taste  of  this  very 
bird  is  adaptive  enough  to  let  him  be  greedy  over  pie- 
crust. 


308  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

We  have  now  got  a  pretty  deep  snow,  which  I  find 
very  uncomfortable,  though  the  resources  of  civilisation 
in  the  shape  of  "  lawn-tennis  soles  "  to  my  boots  enable 
me  to  get  about  more  freely  than  before  their  in- 
vention. 

News  I  have  none  and  I  am  almost  compelled  to 
comment  upon  Mr.  Parnell's  doings,  low  as  that  form  of 
eking  out  a  letter  would  be,  but  even  there  everything 
that  can  be  said  on  the  subject  has  been  said,  and 
novelty  is  impossible.  Guillemard  has  sent  me  a  copy 
of  his  "  Ferdinand  Magellan  "  and  I  am  charmed  with 
so  much  of  it  as  I  have  read.  The  story  is  of  itself 
most  interesting  and  it  is  capitally  treated  by  him.  I 
feel  quite  glad  that  he  had  some  of  my  books  to  work 
with — especially  as  at  last  I  have  got  them  safe  again. 
Do  you  know  anything  of  our  Canon  ?  I  wrote  to  him 
some  weeks  ago  asking  if  he  really  meant  to  go  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  but  have  had  no  reply.  It  will  be  a 
pity  if  he  has  contracted  the  modern  habit  of  not 
answering  letters. 

I  yesterday  had  from  a  friend  a  bone  which  he  had 
found  under  a  Golden  Eagle's  nest,  and  on  taking  it  to 
the  Museum  I  discovered  to  my  surprise  that  it  was  a 
Shag's,  and  a  young  one  at  that — so  the  inference  must 
be  that  Golden  Eagles  rob  Shags'  nests,  a  rather  curious 
thing. 

Wishing  you,  Lady  Lilford  and  all  yours  the  best  of 
wishes,  believe  me  to  be, 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

P.S. — Kiwis  are  too  nocturnal,  or  at  least  crepus- 
cular, to  be  entertaining — though  years  ago  Wolley,  my 
brother  Edward  and  I  were  much  interested  by  watching 
the  first  Apteryx  that  came  alive  to  England  for  an 
hour  or  two  by  the  aid  of  a  bull's-eye  lantern.  And  we 
stood  the  poor  creature  a  drink,  the  first  it  had  had 
since  its  arrival  and,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  the  only 
one  it  enjoyed  during  its  long  captivity.  It  was  nice 


CANON  TRISTRAM  309 

to  hear  it  blowing  bubbles  through  its  nostrils,  just 
putting  the  tip  of  its  bill  in  water. 

A.N.  to  Canon  H.  B.  Tristram  :— 

10,  Beaufort  Gardens, 

December  29,  1890. 

I  had  begun  to  be  unhappy  about  you.  There 
seemed  a  possibility  in  these  days  of  (asserted)  noiseless 
explosions  that  the  Great  Gun  of  Durham  had  gone  off 
silently,  with  intentions  murderous  to  the  peace  of 
Hawaiian  birds,  and  that  the  Sandwich  Island  Com- 
mittee might  be  startled  to  find  that  both  bread  and 
meat  were  taken  out  of  its  mouth,  and  a  flavour  of 
Durham  mustard  left  only. 

I  thank  you  for  your  good  wishes,  and  return  them 
to  you  and  all  yours ;  but  put  not  your  trust  in  grand- 
children being  ornithologists  or  any  of  the  rising 
generation.  The  more  promising  they  are  as  boys  the 
less  likely  are  they  to  turn  out  worth  anything.  Think 
of  Lilford's  youngest  boy  who  was  unhappy  because  he 
was  shaky  on  his  "  Grebes,"  and  has  now  descended  to 
incredible  baseness,  even  acting  in  a  Greek  play  where 
he  had  to  call  a  Swan  "  redfooted " !  N.B.,  it  could 
not  have  been  C.  coscoruba  and  was  hardly  likely  to 
be  C.  davidi. 

Your  voyage  will  not  be  so  entertaining  as  Magel- 
lan's (by  the  way,  get  Guillemard's  new  book*  and 
take  it  with  you  to  read),  but  I  hope  less  disastrous, 
very  delightful  for  a  good  sailor,  but  for  sight  seeing 
nil  nisi  pontus  et  aer,  as  the  old  Latin  grammar  put  it, 
until  you  get  to  Japan,  and  then  I  expect  you  will  be 
much  pressed  for  time.  Convey  my  love  to  Mitsukuri 
at  Tokio,  and  another  man  there,  a  very  nice  fellow  and 
a  botanist  whose  name  at  this  moment  I  forget.  He 
came  to  Cambridge  speaking  American  quite  intelligibly, 
but  after  he  had  been  with  us  a  little  while  he  spoke 
English  so  fluently  that  he  ranallhiswordsintooneword- 
andcouldn'tbyanymeansbeunderstood,  perhaps  he  has 

*  "  Ferdinand  Magellan." 


310  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

now  slowed  down  a  bit,  in  which  case  you  will  find  him 
very  agreeable. 

It  really  is  a  pity  you  can't  come  home  by  the 
Sandwich  Is.  and  stop  the  space  of  a  steamer  there ; 
even  Oahu,  the  island  on  which*  Honolulu  stands,  has 
not  been  worked,  and  I  might  tell  you  of  a  place  there 
where  I  think  you  would  find  a  species  of  which  only 
one  other  specimen  is  known  to  exist,  and  that  got  more 
than  fifty  years  ago. 

Magdalene  College, 

Cambridge, 

October  14,  1895. 

MY  DEAR  HARTING, 

I  am  extremely  obliged  to  you  for  sending 
the  Swan  book,*  and  I  will  return  it  in  a  few  days. 
I  have  also  to  thank  you  for  your  letter  received  this 
morning  and  the  accompanying  copy  of  your  article  on 
"  cob  and  pen,"  which  I  am  very  glad  to  have.  You 
show  abundant  authority  for  the  use  of  the  words  "  cob  " 
and  "  pen,"  and  I  only  wish  I  had  known  of  it  sooner. 
But  I  cannot  agree  with  you  as  to  the  meaning  and 
application  of  either.  It  is  possible  that  "  cob "  may 
refer  to  the  "  berry  "  on  the  cock  Swan's  bill,  since  the 
word  was  used  to  signify  any  round  substance,  and  in 
that  sense  its  diminutive  (?)  still  survives  in  "  cobble," 
a  round  stone  such  as  roads  are  paved  with. 

But  there  was  another  signification  ( =  testiculus), 
and  as  I  find  that  a  "  cob  horse  "  meant  a  "  stone  horse," 
I  was  inclined  to  think  that  a  "  cob  swan  "  was  a  male 
possessing  the  natural  power  of  procreation.  I  would 
refer  you  to  the  "  New  English  Dictionary  "  (sub  voce), 
into  which  I  much  wish  I  had  looked  before  my  article 
"  Cob  "  was  published. 

All  you  say  as  to  "  Cop"  is  right  enough,  and  as  a 
provincial  word  it  has  been  known  to  me,  in  the  sense 

*  "  The  Orders,  Lawes,  and  Ancient  Customes  of  Swanns.  Caused  to 
be  printed  by  John  Witherings,  Esquire,  Master  and  Govemour  of  the 
Royall  game  of  Swans  and  Signets  throughout  England.  Printed  by 
August  Mathewes,  1632."  Sm,  4to,  with  Vignette  of  Swan  on  title  page. 
An  exceedingly  rare  little  volume. 


FLINT  JACK  311 

of  head,  or  crown,  or  crest,  from  my  boyhood ;  but 
though  b  and  p  are  in  many  cases  interchangeable,  and 
most  likely  "  cob  "  and  "  cop  "  have  a  common  origin, 
yet  I  cannot  think  that  "  cob  "  would  ever  return  to  the 
form  "  cop." 

I  do  not  think  your  explanations  of  "  pen "  will 
hold,  and  we  shall  have  to  look  further  to  account  for 
it.  Likely  enough  it  is  connected  with  penna,  but 
its  special  meaning  as  a  hen  swan  seems  still  obscure. 
I  shall  send  the  copy  of  your  article  to  Skeat,  and  if  he 
can  throw  any  light  on  the  subject  I  will  let  you  know. 
Notwithstanding  what  you  have  written,  and  my  own 
suggestion  now  made  as  to  "  cob,"  I  still  think  Yarrell's 
second  statement  is  unintelligible,  though  his  first,  on 
your  showing,  is  satisfactorily  authorised.  [See  Diet. 
Birds,  art.  "  Cob".] 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 

September  5,  1899. 

MY  DEAR  HARVIE-BROWN, 

I  am  afraid  you  will  find  it  very  hard  to  get 
any  specimens  of  Flint  Jack's  handiwork.  You  may  be 
sure  that  most  of  his  victims  threw  them  away  as  soon 
as  the  fraud  was  exposed.  Except  John  Evans  *  who, 
I  believe,  has  some,  I  cannot  think  of  anybody  of  my 
acquaintance  likely  to  have  any — and  he  would  not  be 
likely  to  part  with  them.  I  have  certainly  seen  some 
of  Jack's  forgeries  in  Museums — the  Blackmore  Museum 
at  Salisbury  among  others — but  there  they  are  kept  for 
a  purpose,  and  would  not  be  given  up.  I  am  not  sure 
that  we  may  not  have  a  few  of  the  counterfeits  in  our 
Antiquarian  Museum  at  Cambridge.  I  remember  some 
one  exhibiting  some  at  a  meeting  of  the  Kay  Club 
about  the  time  the  matter  was  exposed,  and  I  think 
John  Evans  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with  it.  The  story 
is  that  he,  or  some  one  else,  beginning  to  suspect  Flint 
Jack,  drew  on  paper  the  form  of  a  purely  imaginary 

*  His  are  now  in  the  Pitt  Rivers  Museum  at  Oxford. 


312  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

implement,  saying  that  such  a  specimen  would  be  worth 
a  good  bit  of  money.  Jack  is  said  to  have  looked  at 
the  sketch  and  declared  he  had  once  come  across  a 
thing  like  it  which  he  had  sold  to  a  gentleman,  etc. 
The  next  time  he  came  round  he  produced  a  flint  corre- 
sponding accurately  with  the  drawing  and  claimed  his 
reward.  The  money  was  paid  to  him  and  he  was  told 
how  he  had  been  entrapped  ;  but  he  saw  the  joke  of  the 
thing  and  enjoyed  it  very  much  ! 

The  trade  of  "  flint-knapping  "  has  been  carried  on  at 
Brandon  time  out  of  mind.  The  "  floor-flint,"  as  it 
is  thereabout  called,  produces  the  hardest  and  finest 
quality,  and  I  believe  it  is  known  that  even  before 
gun-flints  came  into  use,  flints  for  common  strike-a- 
light purposes  were  manufactured  there  to  a  great 
extent.  In  more  recent  times  almost  the  whole  supply 
of  gun -flints  has  come  from  that  place,  and  a  very 
curious  thing  is  that  there  is  still  a  demand  (only  very 
limited  in  these  days)  for  them,  but  goodness  knows 
whence  it  comes  and  whither  they  go.  ...  In  that 
neighbourhood  it  is  not  worth  while  to  make  forgeries ; 
you  can't  do  it  properly  with  an  iron  hammer  (as  the 
gun-flints  are  made)  and  the  dull  new  surface  is  always 
recognisable.  It  takes  centuries  to  put  on  the  proper 
patina,  and  if  polishing  is  attempted  it  is  almost  always 
overdone.  The  best  imitation  is  produced  by  rubbing 
the  fracture  with  a  bit  of  cheese,  but  naturally  that  can 
be  as  quickly  removed  by  the  finger,  and  then  you 
have  the  dull  surface  again.  Besides  this,  in  the  majority 
of  cases  the  colour  of  the  fracture  is  affected  by  age — 
sometimes  remarkably  so. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ALFRED  NEWTON. 


A.N.  to  J.  A.  Harvie-Brown  : — 


Lowestoft, 

November  17,  1900. 


There   must  be  plenty   of  analogies   between   the 
migrations  of  Fishes  and  of  Birds,  yet  I  should  suppose 


A  HARE'S  WHISTLE  313 

that  there  were  also  plenty  of  differences.  I  have  always 
felt  that  a  good  book  on  the  migration  of  Fishes,  both 
salt-water  and  fresh,  was  much  wanted. 

A  year  or  two  ago  a  man  wrote  to  me  enquiring  as 
you  now  do  about  the  vent  feathers  (under  tail  coverts 
if  you  like  it  better)  of  the  Blackcock.  I  could  only 
tell  him  that  I  knew  nothing  beyond  the  fact  that  they 
are  sometimes  marked  with  black  and  sometimes  not. 
Never  having  lived  in  a  Blackcock  country  my  oppor- 
tunities of  observation  have  been  nily  and  I  could  not 
find  out  that  anybody,  here  or  on  the  continent,  had 
explained  or  attempted  to  account  for  the  variation ; 
but  I  remember  noticing  the  fact  when  a  boy,  in  some 
Blackgamc  sent  to  my  father  from  Perthshire. 

By  way  of  starting  a  theory,  to  be  kicked  over  if 
need  be,  I  should  surmise  that  the  young  birds  have 
the  bigger  marks,  the  "  T "  or  anchor  shape,  which 
gradually  lessens  to  the  arrow-head,  that  to  an  "  ermine  " 
spot  and  finally  disappears.  This  is  just  the  reverse  of 
the  "  return  marking  "  on  the  Wax  wing's  pinions,  for 
they,  I  am  pretty  sure,  are  only  seen  in  old  birds,  and 
they  seem  to  increase  with  age. 

It  would  be  a  very  pretty  hare  for  you  to  start  in 
the  "  Scottish  Annals  "  :  this  of  Blackcocks'  bottoms ! 

A.N.  to  G.  E.  H.  Barrett-Hamilton  :— 

February  10,  1905. 

Now  I  want  you  to  tell  me  whether  you  have  ever 
heard,  or  heard  of,  a  Hare's  whistle,  if  I  may  so  call  it. 
Do  you  know  any  one  who  has  described  it,  and  if  so 
who?  I  believe  I  have  heard  it,  but  very  rarely  and 
so  long  ago  that  my  recollection  of  it  is  indistinct. 
I  think  it  is  only  uttered  at  night,  and  I  suppose  in 
the  rutting  season ;  but  that  I  don't  know. 

The  first  time  I  heard  it  I  had  not  a  notion  of  what 
it  was,  nor  did  I  know  for  some  time  what  animal  it 
came  from,  and  then,  so  far  as  I  remember,  an  old 
warrener  told  me.  I  think  the  ordinary  gamekeeper 


314  MISCELLANEOUS  LETTERS 

knows  nothing  about  it ;  but  then  the  ordinary  game- 
keeper is  one  of  the  most  stupidly  unobservant  of 
beings.  Poachers,  however,  do  know  it  and  imitate  it 
with  a  "  hare-call,"  one  of  which  I  should  much  like  to 
get  hold  of.  None  of  the  books  in  common  use  men- 
tions it  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  but  there  is  nothing  very 
extraordinary  in  that ;  for  so  very  few  people  who 
have  written  books  know  anything  about  the  habits 
of  mammals  beyond  the  most  obvious  facts,  and  accord- 
ing to  my  recollection  this  cry,  call,  or  whistle  is  so 
shrill  that  it  is  possible  some  people  could  not  hear  it 
at  all.  You  know  that  many  can't  hear  a  Shrew,  and, 
it  is  said,  scarcely  any  one  over  forty,  a  Bat. 

A.N.  to  P.  H.  Bahr  :— 

July  5,  1906. 

I  know  what  a  nuisance  letter- writing  is  when  "  in 
the  field,"  and  all  the  spare  time  one  has  is  or  ought  to 
be  devoted  to  writing  up  notes,  but  I  do  like  hearing  of 
people's  existence  especially  when  they  are  gone  on  a 
venture  which  oneself  has  chiefly  instigated. 

You  are  perfectly  right  in  your  opinion  of  game- 
keepers ;  taking  them  as  a  lot  they  are  as  big  a  set  of 
fools  as  one  ordinarily  finds,  but  (and  it  is  an  important 
"  but  ")  there  are  some  brilliant  exceptions.  I  have  had 
nothing  to  do  with  crofters,  but  from  all  I  have  heard  I 
have  a  poor  opinion  of  them.  They  may  be  picturesque, 
but  in  every  other  but  a  sentimental  view  I  am  sure 
the  landscape  would  be  better  without  them  ;  from  the 
economic  point  of  view  that  is  without  doubt. 

By  the  way,  that  white  or  whitish  patch  at  the  base 
of  the  bill  is  not  peculiar  to  the  Scaup  Duck,  the  Tufted 
Duck  often  has  it,  not  so  conspicuously  or  well  marked 
as  the  other  but  quite  enough  to  show.  I  have  had 
very  little  acquaintance  with  Scaup  Ducks,  almost  none, 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  if  you  are  looking  down  on  the 
bird,  even  from  a  slight  elevation,  the  very  light- 
coloured  back  ought  to  enable  you  to  distinguish  him 


DUCKS'  BACKS  315 

at  once  from  the  dark-backed  Tufted  Duck,  even  though 
the  latter  wears  his  white  flank-feathers  so  high  that 
they  almost  meet  in  the  middle  of  the  back.  By  the 
way,  did  you  ever  notice  a  curious  difference  between 
the  Pochard  and  the  Tufted  Duck  ?  The  former  has  a 
complete  "  turtle  back,"  while  the  latter  has  a  well- 
marked  longitudinal  depression  running  the  whole 
length  of  it. 

If  you  have  not  noticed  this,  just  look  the  next  time 
you  are  at  the  Zool.  Gardens.  I  don't  know  how  it  is 
with  the  Scaup  or  White-eyed  Duck,  perhaps  betwixt 
the  two. 


APPENDIX 


LIST  OF  PUBLISHED   PAPERS 

NEWTON,  A.    Nestling  of  the  Siskin  (Fringilla  spinus)  in  Confine- 
ment.   Zoologist,  No.  120-1,  Dec.,  1852. 

Some  Account  of  a  Petrel,  killed  at  Southacre,  Norfolk ; 

with  a  Description  and  Synonymy.    Zoologist,  No.  120-1,  Dec.,  1852. 

Extracts  from  Letters  of  John  Wolley,  Esq.,  now  in  Lap- 
land.   Zoologist,  p.  4203,  Feb.,  1854. 

Psittaci    novae    Speciei   ad    conurum    Genus    Pertinentis 

descriptio.    1859. 

Remarks  on  the  Harlequin  Duck  (Histrionicus  torquatus, 

Bp.).    Zoologist,  p.  162, 1859. 

Memoir  of  the  late  John  Wolley,  Jun.,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.Z.S., 

etc.  The  Ibis,  1860. 

NEWTON,  A  and  E.  Observations  on  the  Birds  of  St.  Croix, 
West  Indies.  The  Ibis,  1860. 

NEWTON,  A.  Note  on  the  supposed  Occurrence  of  the  Hirundo 
bicolor  of  North  America  in  England.  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  Feb.  28, 
1860. 

On  some  Hybrid  Ducks.    Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  June  26,  1860. 

Remarks  on  the  Anas  (Anser)  erythropus  of  Linnaeus. 

Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  June  26,  1860. 

Suggestions  for  saving  Parts  of  the  Skeletons  of  Birds. 

Rep.  Smithsonian  Inst.,  1860. 

Suggestions  for  forming  Collections  of  Birds'  Eggs.    Smith- 
sonian Misc.  Coll.,  1860. 

Suggestions  for  forming  Collections  of  Birds'  Eggs.    Re- 
printed, with  additions,  from  the  Circular  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution 
of  Washington.    London,  1860. 

—  Anweisung  zur  Anlegung  von  Eiersammlungen.     (Trans, 
by  E.  Baldamus.)    Journ.f.  Ornithologie,  Nov.,  1860. 

—  Description  of  a  New  Species  of  Water-Hen  (Gallinula) 
from  the  Island  of  Mauritius.    Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  Jan.  8,  1861. 

—  Particulars  of  Mr.  J.  Wolley's  Discovery  of  the  Breeding  of 
the  Waxwing  (Ampelis  garrulus,  Linn.).     The  Ibis,  Jan.,  1861. 

316 


PUBLICATIONS  317 

NEWTON,  A.  Abstract  of  Mr.  J.  Wolley's  Researches  in  Iceland 
respecting  the  Gare-Fowl  or  Great  Auk  (Aka  impennis,  Linn.).  The 
ibis,  Oct.,  1861. 

On  the  Possibility  of  taking  an  Ornithological  Census 

The  Ibis,  April,  1861. 

On  the  Possibility  of  taking  a  Zoological  Census     Journ 

Proc.  Linn.  Soc.,  1861. 

Remarks  on  Pallas's  Sand-Grouse  (Syrrhaptes  paradoxus)- 

Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  May  14, 1861. 

-  On  a  Hybrid  Duck.    Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  Dec.  10, 1861. 

On  some  New  or  Rare    Birds'  Eggs.    Proc.  Zool  Soc., 

Dec.  10,  1861. 

On  the  supposed  Gular  Pouch  of  the  Male  Bustard  (Otis 

tarda,  Linn.).    The  Ibis,  April,  1862. 

On  the  Zoology  of  Ancient  Europe.    Read  before  Camb. 

Philos.  Soc.,  March  31,  1862. 

Remarks  on  the  Fringilla  incerta  of  Risso.    Proc.  Zool 

Soc.,  April  8,  1862. 

On   the   Breeding   of   the   Nutcracker   (Nucifraga  caryo- 

catactes).    Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  June  24,  1862. 

On  the  Discovery  of  Ancient  Remains  of  Emys  lutaria  in 

Norfolk.    Ann.  and  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  Sept.,  1862. 

Review  of  the  recently  published  Memoir  of  Bewick.  The 

Ibis,  Oct.,  1862. 

Arctic  Auguries.    Ocean  Highways,  Feb.  (?)  1862,  (?)  1863. 

— —  On  a  New  Bird  from  the  Island  of  Madagascar.  Proc. 
Zool  Soc.,  Feb.  24,  1863. 

Two  Days  at  Madeira.    The  Ibis,  April,  1863. 

On  an  Illustration  of  the  Manner  in  which  Birds  may 

occasionally  aid  in  the  Dispersion  of  Seeds.  Proc.  Zool  Soc., 
April  21, 1863. 

On  Two  New  Birds  from  Madagascar.    Proc.  Zool  Soc., 

May  12, 1863. 

Acclimatisation  and  Preservation  of  Animals.  National 

Review,  No.  33,  July,  1863. 

Remarks  on  the  Exhibition  of  a  Natural  Mummy  of  Alca 

impennis.  Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  Nov.  10,  1863. 

On  the   Breeding  of  the   Green  Sandpiper  (Helodromas 

ochropus).    Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  Dec.  8,  1863. 

On  the  Irruption  of  Pallas's  Sand-Grouse  (Syrrhaptes 

paradoxus)  in  1863.  The  Ibis,  April,  1864. 

Notes  on  the  Zoology  of  Spitsbergen.  Proc.  Zool  Soc.t 

Nov.  8,  1864. 


318  PUBLICATIONS 

NEWTON,  A.  Notes  on  the  Ornithology  of  Iceland.  Appendix 
to  Baring  Gould's  "  Iceland,  its  Scenes  and'Sagas."  1864. 

On  Two  New  Birds  from  the  Island  of  Rodriguez.    Proc. 

ZooL  Soc.,  Jan.  10,  1865. 

On  some  recently  Discovered  Bones  of  the  Largest  Known 

Species  of  Dodo   (Didus  nazarenus,   Bartlett).     Proc.   ZooL   Soc., 
Feb.  14, 1865. 

Notes  on  the  Birds  of  Spitsbergen.    The  Ibis,  April,  1865. 

On  an  apparently  undescribed  Bird  from  the  Seychelle 

Islands.     The  Ibis,  August,  1865. 

The    Gare-Fowl    and    its    Historians.    Natural    History 

Review,  Oct.,  1865. 

On  a  Remarkable  Discovery  of  Didine  Bones  in  Rodriguez. 

Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  Nov.  28, 1865. 

List  of  Animals  collected  at  Mohambo,  Madagascar,  by 

Mr.  W.  T.  Gerrard.  Proc.  ZooL  Soc.,  Dec.  12, 1865. 

NEWTON,  A.  and  Others.  Report  on  the  Extinct  Birds  of  the 
Mascarene  Islands.  By  a  Committee  consisting  of  Professor 
A.  Newton,  Rev.  H.  B.  Tristram,  and  Dr.  Sclater.  Report  of  the 
Brit.  Assoc.,  1866. 

NEWTON,  A.  On  some  New  or  Rare  Birds'  Eggs.  Proc.  ZooL 
Soc.,  Jan.  24, 1867. 

Zur   Vogel-Fauna   Spitzbergens.    Journ.  f.   Ornith.,  xv., 

Mai,  1867. 

Supplement  to  a  Report  on  the  Extinct  Didine  Birds  of 

the  Mascarene  Islands.  Rept.  Brit.  Assoc.,  1867. 

Remarks  on  Professor  Huxley's  Proposed  Classification  of 

Birds.  The  Ibis,  Jan.,  1868. 

NEWTON,  A.  and  E.  On  the  Osteology  of  the  Solitaire  or  Didine 
Bird  of  the  Island  of  Rodriguez.  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.,  No.  103,  June, 
1868. 

NEWTON,  A.  The  Zoological  Aspect  of  Game  Laws.  Report 
Brit.  Assoc.,  1868. 

The  Strickland  Collection  in  the  University  of  Cambridge. 

The  Ibis,  July,  1869. 

On  Existing  Remains  of  the  Gare-Fowl  (Alca  impennis). 

The  Ibis,  April,  1870. 

On  Cricetus  nigricans  as  a  European  Species.    Proc.  Zool. 

Soc.,  May  12,  1870. 

On  a  Method  of  Registering  Natural  History  Observations. 

Trans.  Norfolk  and  Norwich  Naturalists'  Society,  1870-71  (1871). 
pp.  24-34,  1871. 


PUBLICATIONS  319 

NEWTON,  A.  On  some  New  or  Rare  Birds'  Eggs.  Proc  Zool 
Soc.,  Jan.  17,  1871. 

Letter  re  Lagopus  of  Spitsbergen.    The  Ibis,  April,  1871. 

Exhibition  of  Eggs  of  German  North-Pole  Expedition 

Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  June  20,  1871. 

Eier.    Die  Zweite  deutsche  Nordpolarfahrt,  vol.  ii.,  (?)  1871. 

On  a  remarkable  Sexual  Peculiarity  in  an  Australian 

Species  of  Duck.  Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  Nov.  7,  1871. 

On  an  Undescribed  Bird  from  the  Island  of  Rodriguez. 

The  Ibis,  Jan.,  1872. 

Osteology  of  the  Solitaire.  (A  Letter.)  Ann.  Mag.  Nat. 

Hist.,  Series  IV.,  vol.  ix.,  Jan.  10,  1872. 

Osteology  of  the  Solitaire.  (A  Letter.)  Ann.  Mag.  Nat. 

Hist.,  Series  IV.,  vol.  ix.,  March  9,  1872. 

Second  Supplementary  Report  on  the  Extinct  Birds  of  the 

Mascarene  Islands.  Report  Brit.  Assoc.,  1872. 

The  Notornis  of  Lord  Howe's  Island.    1873. 

On  the  Great  Northern  Falcons.  Ann.  Mag.  Nat.  Hist., 

Series,  1873. 

On  a  Living  Dodo  shipped  for  England  in  the  Year  1628. 

Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  June  16,  1874. 

Suggestions  as  to  the  Acts  of  Birds  most  proper  to  be 

Observed  by  Meteorologists,  Nov.  17,  1874. 

Manual  of  Zoology,  published  by  the  Society  for  Promoting 

Christian  Knowledge.     1874. 

Additional  Evidence  as  to  the  Original  Fauna  of  Rodriguez. 

Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  Jan.  19,  1875. 

Notes  on  Birds  which  have  been  found  in  Greenland. 

Proc.  Acad.  Philadelphia,  1875. 

Suggestions  as  to  the  Acts  of  Birds  most  proper  to  be 

Observed   by   Meteorologists.    Quart.   Journ.    Meteorological   Soc., 
vol.  ii.,    April,    1875.      (N.B.— The    paper    mentioned    above   is 
probably  a  mounted  final  proof  of  this  paper.) 

Exhibition  of  Dutch  Drawings  of  Dodo  and  other  Extinct 

Birds  of  Mauritius.     Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  May  4,  1875. 

Note  on  PaloBornis  exsul    The  Ibis,  July,  1875. 

-  On  Certain  Neglected  Subjects  of  Ornithological  Investi- 
gation.   Brit.  Assoc.,  August,  1875. 

On  the  Assignation  of  a  Type  of  Linnean  Genera,  with 

especial  reference  to  the  Genus  Strix.    The  Ibis,  Series  III.,  vol.  vi., 
1875. 

On  some  Ornithological  Errors  in  the  ReliquicB  Aqutianicce. 

Ann.  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  Feb.,  1876. 


320  PUBLICATIONS 

NEWTON,  A.  and  E.  On  the  Psittaci  of  the  Mascarene  Islands. 
The  Ibis,  July,  1876. 

On  the  Naturalisation  of  the  Edible  Frog  ( Rana  esculenta) 

in  Norfolk.     (?)  Zoologist,  July,  1876. 

—  Address  to  the  Biological  Section  of  the  British  Association. 
Glasgow,  Sept.  6,  1876. 

-  The  Dodo.    Encykopcedia  Britannica,  Ed.  9,  June,  1877. 
NEWTON,  A.  and  Mrs.  R.  LUBBOCK.    Letters  relating  to  the 

Natural  History  of  Norfolk.     Trans.  Norfolk  and  Norwich  Naturalists' 
Soc.,  vol.  ii.,  pt.  4.     1877. 

The  Nomenclature  of  the  Groups  of  Ratitae.     Ann.  Mag. 

Nat.  Hist.,  Dec.,  1877. 

-  Stone  in  Solitaire.     Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  March  5,  1878. 

Zoological     Geography — Didus     and     Didunculus.     Two 

letters  in  Nature,  June,  1878. 

NEWTON,  A.  The  Rooks  and  London  Rookeries.  Zoologist, 
Series  III.,  vol.  ii.,  Dec.,  1878. 

Hawking  in  Norfolk.  Lubbock's  •'  Fauna  of  Norfolk," 

2nd  ed.  1878. 

Remarks  on  Death  of  Lord  Tweeddale.  Proc.  Zool.  Soc., 

Jan.  14,  1879. 

On   Alectoranas   nitidissima.    Proc.    Zool.   Soc.,  Jan.   14, 

1879. 

On  some  Moot  Points  in  Ornithological  Nomenclature. 

Ann.  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  August,  1879. 

More  Moot  Points  in  Ornithological  Nomenclature.  Ann. 

Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  Dec.,  1879. 

-  On  Chontura  Caudacuta.    Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  Jan.  6,  1880. 

List  of  the  Birds  of  Jamaica.    (Corrected  proof.)    July,  1880. 

NEWTON,  A.  and  E.    List  of  the  Birds  of  Jamaica.    Handbook 

of  Jamaica  (1881),  1880. 

List  of  the  Birds  of  Jamaica.  Jamaica  Handbook  (1881). 

1881. 

NEWTON,  A.  On  an  Egg  of  Cariama  cristata.  Proc.  Zool.  Soc., 
Jan.  4, 1881. 

Protection  of  British  Birds. 

(1)  Report  on  the  Practicability  of  establishing  "  A  Close 
Time  "  for  the  Protection  of  Indigenous  Animals,  by  a  Com- 
mittee   appointed    by    the    British    Association,    1869-1880. 
British  Association  Reports,  London. 

(2)  The  Wild  Birds'  Protection  Act,  1880,  with  Explanatory 
Notes.    London  (Field  Office),  1880.    Quarterly  Review,  vol.  151, 
No.  301,  Jan.,  1881. 


PUBLICATIONS  321 

NEWTON,  A.  Note  on  the  Generic  Name  HypJierpes.  Proc 
Zool.  8oc.,  March  15,  1881. 

Footnotes  to  "  Extracts  from  the  Calendar  of  the  Rev 

William  Whitear,  M.A.,  F.L.S.,  1809-1826,"  by  T.  Southwell! 
Trans.  Norfolk  and  Norwich  Naturalists'  Society,  vol.  iii.,  1881. 

The  White-Backed  Woodpecker  not  a  British  Bird.  (Cor- 
rected proof,  dated  Sept.  20,  1881.)  1881. 

Ornithological    Nomenclature.    Addendum  to    The  Ibis 

Jan.,  1883. 

Mr.    Seebohm's    "  Fugitive    Observations."     (Cambridge, 

May  19, 1883.)    1883. 

The  Fur-Seals  of  Commerce.  A  Monograph  of  the  Seal- 
Islands  of  Alaska.  Quarterly  Review,  No.  312,  Oct.,  1883. 

Memoir   of   the   late   John   Scales.    Trans.   Norfolk  and 

Norwich  Naturalists'  Society,  vol.  iv.,  1885. 

Address  to  the  Biological  Section  of  the  British  Association. 

Manchester,  1887.    1887. 

Exhibition  of  a  Stuffed  Specimen  of  Bulweria  columbina. 

Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  Nov.  15,  1887. 

Darwin's  Life  and  Letters.  The  Life  and  Letters  of 

Charles  Darwin,  including  an  Autobiographical  Chapter.  3  vok, 
London,  1887.  Quarterly  Review,  No.  331,  Jan.,  1888. 

Early  Days  of  Darwinism.  Macmillan's  Magazine,  No.  340, 

Feb.,  1888. 

On  the  Irruption  of  Syrrhaptes  paradoxus.    Brit.  Assoc., 

Section  D.,  1888. 

The  Irruption  of  Syrrhaptes  paradoxus.  Scientific  News, 

Sept.  10, 1888. 

[Summary  of  Prof.  Newton's  Address  to  British  Association — 
"  On  the  Irruption  of  Pallas's  Sand-Grouse,  Syrrhaptes  paradoxus."] 
Zoologist,  Series  III.,  vol.  xxi.,  No.  142,  Oct.,  1888. 

NEWTON,  A.  and  E.  Notes  on  some  Species  of  Zosterops.  The 
Ibis,  Oct.,  1888. 

NEWTON,  A.  On  the  Breeding  of  the  Seriema  (Cariama  cristata). 
Proc.  Zool  Soc.,  Jan.  15, 1889. 

On  the  Young  of  Pallas's  Sand-Grouse  (Syrrhaptes  para- 
doxus). The  Ibis,  April,  1890. 

Obituary.    Mr.  J.  H.  Gurney.     The  Ibis,  July,  1890. 

Notes  on  some  Old  Museums.  Annual  Report  of  the 

useums  Association,  1891. 

Errors  concerning  the  Sanderling  (Calidris  arenaria).    The 

Ibis,  July,  1892. 

Y 


322  PUBLICATIONS 

NEWTON,  A.  Note  on  the  Occurrence  of  the  Sanderling  (Calidris 
arenaria)  in  New  South  Wales.  Records  of  Australian  Museum,  vol. 
ii.,  1892.  1892. 

Remarks  on  Exhibition  of  Skin  of  an  Immature  Sylvia 

nisoria.  Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  Nov.  1,  1892. 

The  "  Russet-Pated  Chough  "  of  Shakespeare.  Zoologist, 

Oct.,  1893. 

Origin  of  the  Terms  "  Cob  "  and  "  Pen."     1893. 

On  a  New  Species  of  Drepanis  discovered  by  Mr.  R.  C.  L. 

Perkins.     Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  Nov.  7,  1893. 

On  the  Great  Flood  of  1852-3  in  South- Western  Norfolk. 

Trans.  Norfolk  and  Norwich  Naturalists'  Soc.,  vol.  5,  1893. 

Notes  on  "  A  Bill  to  Amend  the  Wild  Birds'  Protection 

Act,  1880."  The  Annals  of  Scottish  Natural  History,  April,  1894. 

Contributions  to  Pasfield  Oliver's  edition  of  Leguat's 

"  Voyage."  1891. 

On  a  Rare  Bird  from  the  Sandwich  Islands  (Heterorhynchus 

olivaceus).    Proc.  ZooL  Soc.,  Dec.  15,  1896. 

Sir  Edward  Newton,  M.A.,  K.C.M.G.  Obituary  Notice. 

Proc.  Linn.  Soo.,  Session  1896-97. 

(?)  NEWTON,  A.  Sir  Edward  Newton,  M.A.,  K.C.M.G.,  F.L.S., 
C.M.Z.S.  Obituary  Notice.  The  Ibis,  July,  1897. 

NEWTON,  A.  On  some  New  or  Rare  Birds'  Eggs.  Proc.  Zool.  Soc., 
Nov.  16, 1897. 

The  Preface  to  "  Coloured  Figures  of  the  Birds  of  the 

British  Islands."  Issued  by  Lord  Lilford,  F.Z.S.,  etc.  8vo., 
London,  1897. 

On  the  Orcadian  Home  of  the  Gare-Fowl  (Alca  impennis). 

The  Ibis,  Oct.,  1898. 

Obituary  Notice.    Osbert  Salvin.     Obituary  Notices  of  the 

Proc.  Royal  Soc.}  vol.  64,  (?)  1898. 

Gilbert  White  of  Selborne.  Born  July  18,  1720  ;  Died 

June  26, 1793.  8vo.,  Cambridge,  1899. 

The  Great  Shearwater  in  Scottish  Waters.  The  Annals 

of  Scottish  Natural  History,  July,  1900. 

Gilbert  White  and  his  Recent  Editors.  Macmillan's 

Magazine,  No.  489,  July,  1900. 

Obituary  Notice.  Lionel  William  Wiglesworth.  The  Ibis, 

Oct.,  1901. 

On  some  Cranes'  Bones  found  in  Norfolk.    1901. 

Memoir.    John  Wolley.     "  Ootheca  Wolleyana,"  vol.  i. 

On  the  White  Rhinoceros.     Proc.  Zool.  Soc.,  August  6, 

1903. 


PUBLICATIONS  323 

NEWTON,  A.  Review  of  Evan's  "  Turner  on  Birds."  The  Ibis, 
1903. 

Leguat's  Giant  Bird.  Fourth  International  Congress  of 

Ornithologists,  Cambridge,  June  20,  1905. 

Books,  Letters,  and  Papers  Exhibited  [by  A.  Newton]  in  the 

Philosophical  Library  by  permission  of  the  Committee.  June  20, 
1905.  Fourth  International  Congress  of  Ornithologists,  Cambridge, 
1905. 

— —  Remarks  on  Louis  Bureau,  "  Sur  un  Atlas  des  Planches 
coloriees  de  POrnithologie  de  Brisson  attribue  au  Peintre  Martinet, 
provenant  de  la  vente  Alph.  Milne-Edwards."  Proc.  Fourth  Inter- 
national Ornithological  Congress,  1905.  1905. 

Aka  impennis.    "  Ootheca  Wolleyana,"  vol.  ii.,  1905. 

Appendix.  The  Publications  on  Natural  History  of  John 

Wolley,  except  those  included  in  the  body  of  the  Work.  "  Ootheca 
Wolleyana,"  pt.  iv.,  vol.  ii. 


PAPERS  IN  QUARTO. 

NEWTON,  A.  On  a  Picture  supposed  to  represent  the  Didine 
Bird  of  the  Island  of  Bourbon  (Reunion).  Trans.  Zool.  Soc.,  vol.  vi., 
1867. 

NEWTON,  A.  and  E.  On  the  Osteology  of  the  Solitaire  or  Didine 
Bird  of  the  Island  of  Rodriguez,  Pezophaps  solitaria  (Gmel.).  Phil. 
Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  1868. 

NEWTON,  A.  The  Zoological  Aspect  of  Game  Laws.  Seems 
to  be  an  extract  from  a  Paper  of  Professor  Newton's.  Paper  read 
at  meeting.  Brit.  Assoc.,  August,  1868.  1868. 

The  Migration  of  Birds.    Nature,  Sept.  24,  1874. 

On  the  Species  of  Hypsipetes  inhabiting  Madagascar  and 

the  Neighbouring  Islands.  Ornithological  Miscellany,  p.  41,  1876. 

Der  Kukuk  (I.  and  II.).  Ornithol.  Centralblatt,  Feb.  1 

and  15,  1878.  Jahrg.  III.,  1878. 

Der  Dodo.  Ornithol.  Centralblatt,  Sept.  1  and  Dec.,  1878. 

Jahrg.  III.,  1878. 

NEWTON,  A.,  and  PARKER,  W.  K.  Birds.  Encyclopedia  Britan- 
nica,  9th  ed.,  (?)  1875. 

NEWTON,  A.  Ornithology.  Encyclopcedia  Britannica,  9th  ed., 
vol.  xviii.,  1884. 

Visitations  of  the  Rotche  or  Little  Auk.  Science  Gossip, 

vol.  ii.,  No.  13,  March,  1895. 


324  PUBLICATIONS 


REPORTS  OF  COMMITTEES. 

Report  of  the  Committee  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Canon  Tristram, 
Professor  Newton,  H.  E.  Dresser,  J.  S.  Harting,  and  the  Rev.  A.  F. 
Barnes,  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  the  Investigation  on 
the  Desirability  of  Establishing  a  "  Close-time  "  for  the  Preservation 
of  Indigenous  Animals.  Rept.  Brit.  Assoc.,  1872. 

Do.,  do.,  do.    Rept.  Brit.  Assoc.,  Bradford,  1877. 

Statement  by  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  British  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  the 
Investigation  on  the  Desirability  of  Establishing  a  "  Close-time  " 
for  the  Preservation  of  Indigenous  Animals.  Feb.,  1876. 

Report  of  the  Committee  .  .  .  appointed  for  the  purpose  of 
enquiring  into  the  Possibility  of  Establishing  a  "  Close-time  "  for 
the  Protection  of  Indigenous  Animals.  1876. 

Report  of  the  Committee,  consisting  of  the  Rev.  H.  F.  Barnes- 
Lawrence,  C.  Spence  Bate,  Esq.,  H.  E.  Dresser,  Esq.  (Sec.),  Dr.  A. 
Gunther,  J.  E.  Harting,  Esq.,  Dr.  Gwyn  Jeffreys,  Professor  Newton, 
and  the  Rev.  Canon  Tristram,  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  Inquiring 
into  the  Possibility  of  Establishing  a  "  Close-time  "  for  Indigenous 
Animals.  Rept.  Brit.  Assoc.,  1878. 

Report  of  the  Committee,  consisting  of  Mr.  Thiselton  Dyer 
(Sec.),  Professor  Newton,  Professor  Flower,  Mr.  Carruthers,  and 
Mr.  Sclater,  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  "Reporting  on  the  present 
state  of  our  knowledge  of  the  Zoology  and  Botany  of  the  West 
Indian  Islands,"  and  taking  steps  to  Investigate  Ascertained  De- 
ficiencies in  the  Fauna  and  Flora.  Brit.  Assoc.,  Bath,  1888.  1888. 

Bird  Migration  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Report  of  the 
Committee  .  .  .  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  Digest  of 
the  Observations  on  the  Migrations  of  Birds  at  Lighthouses  and 
Light-vessels,  1880-1887.  Brit.  Assoc.,  1896. 

Do.,  do.,  do.    Third  Interim  Report.    Brit.  Assoc.,  1900. 

Do.,  do.,  do.  Fourth  Interim  Report.  (Proof.)  Brit.  Assoc., 
1901. 

Do.,  do.,  do.    Fifth  Interim  Report.    Brit.  Assoc.,  1902. 

Do.,  do.,  do.    Sixth  and  Final  Report.    Brit.  Assoc.,  1903. 

[Letters  and  reviews  published  in  weekly  and  other  Journals 
have  been  omitted  from  the  above  list.  For  the  sake  of  completeness 
should  be  added  three  works,  the  publication  of  which  extended  over 
a  term  of  years,  namely.  "  Yarrell's  History  of  British  Birds,"  vols.  i. 
and  ii. ;  "  The  Dictionary  of  Birds,"  and  "  Ootheca  Wolleyana."] 


INDEX 


ADAMI,  Prof.,  102 

Advent  Bay,  84,  87 

Agassiz,  Prof.  Louis,  110 

Albemarle,  William  Charles,  4th  Earl 

of,  1 

Aka  impennis,  40  note,  41  note,  45 
Aldeburgh,  156 
Aldrovandi,  U.,  174  ;   "  Ornithologia," 

222 

Akrt,  H.M.S.,  21 
Alkenhorn,  82,  91 
Allen,  Grant,  "Selborne,"  edited  by, 

188-190 

Alston,  E.,  19,  127 
"  Annals  of  Scottish  Natural  History," 

146  note 

Anser  brachyrhynchus,  85,  86 
Anthus  cervinus,  18 
Aphanapteryz,  53 
Apteryx,  308 

Arcedeckne,  Andrew,  271 
Archangel,  47 

Arctic  Expedition,  German,  21 
—  Regions,  47 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  143,  166,  175  note 
Aristotle,  173,  174,  230 
Aster,  the,  280,  285,  287 
Athenceum,  124 
Atkinson,  T.  D.,  99,  101 
Audubon,   J.   J.,   "  American   Ornith- 

Auk^Great,  or  Gare-fowl,  27,  29,  30, 
36-39,  40-52,  282,  286,  304,  306; 
Little,  82,  86 

Austen,  Roberts,  129 

Avocet,  222,  223 

BABINGTON,  Prof.,  118,  237 

Baer,  Von,  212 

Bahr,  Dr.  P.  H.,  210,  257  note,  314 

Bainbridge,  Mr.,  5 

Baird,  Prof.,  Ill,  115,  118 

Baldamus,  E.,  74 

Balfour,  Prof.  Francis  Maitland,  268; 
work  on  Comparative  Embryology, 
103;  death,  248,  251  note ;  class 
in  morphology,  252 


Balmat,  Gideon,  17 

Barrett-Hamilton,  Major  G.  E.  H., 
letters  from  A.  Newton,  51,  204, 
216,  217,  219,  240,  249,  260,  261, 
288,  290,  313 

Barrington,  Mr.,  172,  192 

Bateson,  William,  104,  126,  250 

Bear  Island,  81,  91 

Bear-pie,  5 

Becker,  Lydia,  128 

Bee-eater,  the  Indian,  7 

Bell,  Prof.  Thomas,  "  Selborne,"  edited 
by,  186,  187 

Bell  Sound,  81,  88 

Benson,  A.  C.,  245,  258,  262,  267 

Berger,  Andreas,  79 

Berlin  Museum,  74 

Bewick,  Thomas,  "  Land  Birds  "  and 
"  Water  Birds,"  199 

Biarritz,  305 

Bidwell,  Edward,  44 

Birds :  dialects  in  songs,  299 ;  egg- 
colleeting,  146-150,  158 ;  geogra- 
phical distribution,  175, 185  ;  migra- 
tion of,  160-175 ;  nomenclature, 
215-217;  protection  of,  136-158; 
close-time,  139-141 ;  Society,  151 

Birds  of  Aristophanes,  258-261 

Birkbeck,  Sir  Edward,  77 

Blackdyke  Fen,  56 

Black-game,  57,  301,  302,  313 

Blackmore  Museum,  311 

Blackwell,  E.  J.,  17 

Blasius,  74 

Bloxworth,  275 

Bond,  F.,  47,  48 

Bonney,  Prof.  T.  G.,  account  of  the 
Red  Lions  Club,  129 

Bonxie  or  Skua  Gull,  145,  155 

Borrer,  "  Birds  of  Sussex,"  289 

Bos  primigenius,  254 

Boswell,  James,  "Life  of  Johnson," 
233 

Bothnia,  Gulf  of,  19 

Boyle,  Willy,  259 

Bradshaw,  Henry,  268  note,  292 

Brambling,  8 


325 


326 


INDEX 


Bramwel],  Sir  F.,  129 

Brandon,  297,  312 

Braybrooke,    Latimer,    9th    Lord,    75 

note,  94,  262 
Breck,  the,  4 
Bremerhaven,  279 
Bright,  Mynors,  94 
British  Association,  52,  61,  118,  122, 

127,  128,  136,  139,  156,  169,  185 
British  Museum,  Catalogues,  235 
British  Ornithologists'  Union,  43,  61, 

69 

Brodie,  J.,  119 
Browne,  T.,  229 
Browning,  O.,  107 
Buckland,  Frank,  127,  202 
Buffon,  G.  L.,  192,  229 
Bunting,  Snow,  35,  39 
Burgess,  Captain,  44 
Burwell  Fen,  54,  254 
Bury  Museum,  255 
Bustard,   4,   7,   31,   54-58,    137,    150, 

211,  305 
Butler,    Samuel,    "The    Way    of    All 

Flesh,"  98 
Buzzard,  Rough-legged,  4,  13,  165 

CABANIS,  74 

Calvert,  Mr.,  43,  44,  45,  46 

Cambridge,  7,  93,  96-99;  Museum, 
46,  53,  108,  209,  254,  311 ;  popula- 
tion, 96  ;  Railway  Station,  93,  94  ; 
University,  96 ;  Magdalene  College, 
10,  11,  93,  99-101  ;  chapel,  99,  100, 
245-247  ;  Professorship  of  Zoology 
and  Comparative  Anatomy,  founded, 
133 

Cambridge,  Duke  of,  253 

Candler,  Mr.,  264 

Capercaillie,  7,  224-228,  301 

Carpenter,  Dr.,  127 

Carrion-hawk,  295 

Cavenham,  5 

Chafin,  Mr.,  "  Cranbourn  Chase,"  211 

Champley,  Mr.,  48 

Chandler,  Dr.,  187 

Chough,  275-277 

Clark,  J.  W.,  254,  255,  296,  304 

Cleaver,  Charles  Pierrepont,  11 

Coal  Bay,  82,  85,  91 

"  Cob  and  Pen,"  310 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor,  190 

Collingwood,  Dr.,  119 

Colymbus  Adamsi,  286 

Cordeaux,  John,  138,  169 

Comhill  Magazine,  247,  258 

Cornwall,  278 

Couee,  Elliott,  166 

County  Councils,  151 


"  Cowshed,"  263 

"  Crab,"  the  dog,  9 

Crane,  13,  150,  167  ;  nest  of,  19 

Crotch,  Duppa,  268 

Crotch,  G.  R.,  268 

Crows,  302 

Cruises,  278-287 

Cuckow,  66,  164,  167,  174,  223,  243 

Curlew,  Long-billed,  223 

Cuvier,  L.  C.,  257 

DARWIN,  CHARLES,  122,  175  ;  "  Origin 
of  Species,"  102,  118 ;  on  natural 
selection,  112,  115,  117;  "Animals 
and  Plants  under  Domestication," 
114,  124;  letters  from,  124,  294, 
295 

Darwin,  Sir  Francis,  268,  273 

"  Darwinism,  Early  Days  of,"  extract 
from,  114  note 

Decoy,  origin  of,  231 

D'Hamonville,  Baron,  47,  48 

Dhuleep  Singh,  Prince,  56,  76,  102 

Dickinson,  Lowes,  portrait  of  A.  New- 
ton, 289 

"Dictionary  of  Birds,"  53,  59,  108, 
165,  167  note,  220,  238,  239,  272 

"  Dictionary  of  National  Biography," 
195 

Discovery,  H.M.S.,  22 

Diver,  Red-throated,  87,  89 

Dodo,  52,  53 

Dogs,  9 

Draine,  229 

Draper,  Prof.,  119 

Drosier,  R.,  "  Account  of  an  Ornith- 
ological Visit  to  Shetland  and  Ork- 
ney," 145 

Drummond,  Lieut. -Col.  H.  M.,  President 
of  the  Ornithologists'  Union,  61 

Drury,  Rev.  Drue,  12 

Drury  Travelling  Fellowship,  12,  73, 
95  ;  expires,  75 

Du  Chaillu,  Paul  B.,  123 

Duck,  decoy,  231;  Eider,  82,  84; 
Longtailed,  80;  Scaup,  209,  314; 
Tufted,  154,  210,  314;  White- 
eyed,  315 

Ducks,  34 

Dufferin,  Lord,  34 

EAGLE-CLARKB,  W.,  215  ;   letters  from 

A.  Newton,  155,  161,  165,  167,  291  ; 

observations  on  migration  of  birds, 

170-173 
Eagle,  Golden,  7,  148,  154,  158 ;    Sea, 

18 

Eagles,  282 
Earth,  rotundity  of,  296 


INDEX 


327 


Edmunston  family,  144 
Edwards,  Thomas,  202 
Egg-blowing,  24 ;  collecting,  146-150, 

158 

Eggs,  identification,  207 ;    sales  of,  17 
Elveden,  1,  2,  3,  12,  56,  57  ;  sale  of,  76 
Enare,  Lake,  18 
English  essay  prize,  11 
Evans,  A.  H.,  268 
Evans,  Henry,  50,  280 
Evans,  Sir  John,  129,  311 
Evans,  William,  215  note,  217  note 
"  Extermination,"  article  on,  59 

FABBE,  37,  39 

Fair  Island,  27 

Falco  peregrinus,  7 

Falcons,  33,  283 

"  Family  Club,  the,"  232 

Farish,  Prof.,  99 

Faroe  Islands,  27 

Fawcett,  Prof.,  122 

Feilden,  Col.  H.  W.,  157  ;   letters  from 

A.  Newton,  21,  47,  50,  127.  179,  205, 

211,  252,  287 
Feltwell  Fen,  4 
Finland,  20 
Finsch,  217 

Fishes,  migration  of,  313 
Fitzroy,  Admiral,  119 
Fitzwilliam  Museum,  96 
Flamingo,  304,  305 
Flannan  Islands,  283 
Flint  Jack,  311 
Flint-knapping,  312 
Flutter-bugs,  305 
Foula,  27 
Foxes,  Blue,  110 
Francis,  H.  T.,  233 
Francis,  Dr.  W.,  62 
Fraaer's  Magazine,  19  note 
Fringilla  montifringitta,  8  note 
Frost,  John,  98 
Froude,  J.  A.,  256 
Fulmar,  27,  29,  82 
Funk  Island,  52 
Furse,  Charles,  portrait  of  A.  Newton, 


GADOW,  H.,  209 

Gamekeepers,  314 

Game  Laws,  60 

Gannets,  27,  383 

Gare-fowl    or    Great    Auk,    27,    40; 

Skerry,  52 
"Gare-fowl    and    its    Historians,"    41 

note 

Garland,  the,  278 
Gatke,  Herr,  168,  278 


Geikie,  Sir  Archibald,  280 

Geneva,  2 

Geographical    Distribution    of    Birds, 

175-185 

Geological  Record,  179 
Germany,  74 
Gesner,  C.,  174,  222 
Gillaroo  Trout,  117 
Gillies'  Land,  90 
Glacier,  Alfred  Newton,  22 
Glowworm,  s.s.,  304,  306 
Gmelin,  J.  G.,  167 
Godman,  Fred,  42,  62 
Godman,  Percy,  42,  62 
Goldsmith,    O.,    "Animated   Nature," 

192 

Goose,  39,  80,  85 
Gorilla,  123 

Gossamer,  meaning  of  the  word,  190 
Goltland,  14 
Gould,  John,  12,  42,  115,  133  ;  "  Birds 

of  Europe,"  201 
Grakle,  69  note 
Grant,  Sir  A.,  57 
Grant,  John  Peter,  154 
Greenwell,  Canon,  297 
Grenville,    Very    Rev.    the     Hon.    G. 

Neville,  94 
Grime's  Graves,  297 
GrinneU  Land,  22 
Grouse,  110,  176,  177 
"  Gryse,"  227,  228 
Guillemard,  Dr.  F.  H.  H.,  account  of 

his    friendship    with    A.     Newton, 

265-274;     "Ferdinand    Magellan," 

308,  309 
Gull,  Black-backed,  34,  39;  Glaucous, 

32,  33,  34,  82  ;    Iceland,  36  ;   Ivory, 

82,  84,  87,  89,  91  ;  White-winged,  39 
Gunther,  Dr.  Albert,  125 
Gurney,  John  Henry,  12,  26,  62,  64, 

158 
Gyrfalcon,  14 

HAMMERFEST,  17,  18,  19,  80,  92 

Hanbury,  George,  5 

Haparanda,  19 

Hare's  whistle,  313 

Harriers,  4 

Hart,  Chichester,  22 

Hartert,  E.,  217 

Harting,  J.  E.,  47,  55 ;  letters  from  A. 
Newton,  48,  310;  "White's  Sel- 
borne,"  57 ;  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee for  the  Protection  of  Birds, 
140 

Harvie-Brown,  J.  A.,  19,  169,  204,  224, 
235;  letters  from  A.  Newton,  20, 
21,  51,  156,  157,  164,  165,  178,  203, 


328 


INDEX 


211,  218,  219,  225,  229,  232,  240, 
243,  249,  282,  299,  301,  311,  312; 
"  Fauna  of  the  Moray  Basin," 
202  ;  "  The  Capercaillie  in  Scotland," 
226;  "Fauna  of  Scotland,"  236; 
yacht,  285;  "Song  of  the  Shear- 
water," 285 

Hawker,  Colonel,  4 

Hawks  Club,  7  note 

Hebrides,  286 

Heligoland,  278 

Henslow,  Prof.,  11,  119 

Herbert,  Auberon,  141 

Hesperornis,  179 

Hewitson,  W.  C.,  65,  244 

Hibernation  of  birds,  166 

Hickling,  150,  152 

Hilton,  Arthur,  Light  Green,  272 

Hjaldalin,  Herr,  31 

Hobby,  307 

Hoeno,  18 

Holarctic  Region,  181,  182 

Holt,  Alice,  58 

Holt-White,  Rashleigh,  letters  from 
A,  Newton,  188,  198,  240,  241; 
"  Life  and  Letters  of  Gilbert  White," 
191,  194,  196 

Hooker,  Sir  Joseph,  30,  112 

Hooper,  6,  18,  223 

Horner,  Eev.  Joseph,  10 

Horrebow,  233 

Houghton,  Richard  Monckton,  1st 
Baron,  1 

Hudleston,  W.  H.,  14;  nickname, 
211.  See  Simpson 

Humming-birds,  23 

Humphrey,  Prof.,  134 

Hunter,  John,  46,  212,  257 

Huxley,  Prof.  T.  H.,  46,  119,  122,  123, 
128,  132,  184,  204,  215,  244 

Ibis  or  Avis,  62,  63-69,  120,  205,  207  ; 

motto,  65 
Ice  Sound,  90 

Iceland,  27-39,  110  ;  Falcon,  30 
"  Iceland,  No  Snakes  in,"  story,  233 
Ichthyornis,  179 
Irby,  Colonel,  305,  306,  307 

JACK-SNIPS,  13 
Jamaica,  54 
James  I.,  King,  2 
Jardine,  Sir  William,  12 
Jay,  Siberian,  13,  14,  17 
Jefferies,  Richard,  203 
Jenyns,  Mr.,  7 
Jesse,  Edward,  264 
Jorgensen,  30 
Jonrdain,  F.  C.  R.,  159  note 


KALM,  166 

Keblavik,  35 

Keppel,  Viscount,  2 

Kingsley,   Rev.   Charles,   123;    letters 

from,    134,  255,  256,  296;    "Water 

Babies,"  256 
Kinnear,  N.  B.,  209,  251 
Kiowroo,  story  of,  293 
Kirkuvogr,  30,  32 
Kittiwake,  7,  137-139 
Kiwi,  308 

Knoblock,  Ludwig,  71,  78,  85,  92,  293 
Knot,  21,  38 
Knubley,  F.,  242,  268 

Lagopus  rupestris,  176,  177 

Lamarck,  J.  B.,  110 

Lapland,  15,  17-19 

Larks  or  Chats,  111,  118  ;  Crested,  116 

Lausanne  Museum,  45 

Lava  streams,  34 

Lawson,  Capt.  J.  A.,  128  ;  "  Wanderings 

in  New  Guinea,"  128  note 
Leadbeater,  Mr.,  43,  47 
Lepierre,  Dr.,  45 
Les  Delices,  2 
Life,  Origin  of,  179 
Lilford,   Lord,   46   272;    letters  from 

A.  Newton,  56,  187,  204,  235,  252, 

259,  289,  301,  303,  307;    letters  to 

him,  304-307 
Lindsay,  "  History,"  226 
Linnean  Society,  44,  112 
Linnaeus,  C.,  "  Systema  Naturae,"  215 
Linota  montium,  7 
Lions,  Red,  Club,  129  ;  telegrams,  130- 

133 

Lister,  J.  J.,  292 
Lister,  Lord,  257 
Loch  Roagh,  283 
Lochiel,  154 
Lofoten  Islands,  18,  78 
Lophopsittacus,  53 
Lorange,  Dr.,  82,  84 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  193 
Lubbock,  Sir  John,  119,  128 
Lubbock,  John,  119 
Lumby,  Rev.  Canon  J.  Rawson,  230 
Lundy  Island,  278 
Lydekker,  Richard,  268,  273 
Lyell,  Sir  Charles,  110,  112 
Lyngen  Fjord,  19 

Macmittan's  Magazine,  115  note,  117, 

191  note 
Magdalene  College,  Cambridge,  11.    See 

Cambridge 

Magnussen,  Eric,  31,  33,  37 
Magpie,  207 


INDEX 


329 


Malmgren,  79,  80,  85 

Manatee,  254 

Manning,  Cardinal,  128 

Manx  Cats,  212 

March,  Lord,  5 

Marsham,  Robert,  186 

Mascarene  Islands,  52 

Mauritius,  52 

Maxwell,  Sir  Herbert,  146,  152,  153 

McArthur,  Mr.,  224 

McLauchlan,  Dr.,  224 

Meade- Waldo,  E.  G.  B.,  53 

Meal  Sack,  29,  36,  37 

Mendelism,  104,  125 

Merganser,  Hooded,  26 

Meyer,  Dr.,  69 

Migration  of  birds,  160-175 

Milnes,     Elizabeth,    marriage,    1.     See 

Newton 
Milnes,    Richard     Monckton,   1.     See 

Houghton 

Milnes,  Richard  Slater,  1 
Mistletoe,  derivation  of,  230 
Mistletoe-Thrush,  229,  307 
Mittel  Hook,  87 
Mivart,  Prof.,  128 
Moore,  Mr.,  45 
Morphology,  102,  252 
Morris,  F.  O.,  "  On  the  Permanence  of 

Species,"  118 
Muggeridge,  Ernest,  268 
Mulso,  John,  188,  197 
Muonio  River,  19 
Muonioniska,  13,  14,  293 
Muoniovara,  92 
Murray,  John,  196 
Musk  Ox,  21 

NAPOLEON  L,  Emperor,  102 

Napoleon  III.,  Emperor,  128 

Nares  Expedition,  21 

Natural  History  journals,  242;  re- 
views on,  243 

Nature,  156,  161,  163 

Nearctio  Region,  181,  182 

Neville,  Rev.  the  Hon.  Latimer,  75, 
94,  262.  See  Braybrooke 

Neville-Grenville,  George,  12 

Newcomes,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  5 

Newman,  Mr.,  243 

Newton,  Alfred,  birth  at  Geneva,  2; 
accident,  4,  86,  169,  270,  279,  290 ; 
pet-name,  6 ;  drawing,  8 ;  dogs, 
9  ;  at  Magdalene  College,  Cambridge, 
11,  76,  93,  95,  99;  elected  to  the 
Drury  Travelling  Fellowship,  12, 
73,  95 ;  journey  to  Lapland,  17 ; 
at  St.  Croix,  23  ;  in  America,  24  ; 
"Suggestions  for  Forming  Collec- 


tions of  Birds'  Eggs,"  24 ;  journey 
to  Iceland,  27-32,  110;  lessons  in 
Icelandic,  32;  at  Kirkjuvogr,  32- 
39 ;  purchases  a  Great  Auk's  egg, 
42  ;  collection  of  eggs,  46  ;  cruises 
50,  278-287;  researches  on  the 
Dodo,  52-54;  the  Great  Bustard, 
54-59  ;  on  the  extinction  of  animals, 
59  ;  Secretary  of  the  Ornithologists' 
Union,  61 ;  criticisms  on  the  Ibis, 
64  ;  editor  of  it,  66  ;  work  on  the 
"  Ootheca  Wolleyana,"  71,  209,  290  ; 
at  Copenhagen,  73  ;  Germany,  74 ; 
decides  against  taking  holy  orders, 
75,  102  ;  elected  Professor  of  Zoo- 
logy, 75  note,  133,  250;  death  of 
his  father,  76 ;  at  Spitzbergen,  77- 
92 ;  lectures,  104,  250,  265 ;  "  Zoo- 
logy,"  105;  Sunday  evenings, 
105-107,  261,  265 ;  political  views, 
107,  244,  271;  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Biology  and  Geology,  107  ; 
"Dictionary  of  Birds,"  108,  220, 
239,  272;  characteristics,  109,  248, 
259,  264 ;  on  Darwin's  views,  112- 
124  ;  on  the  principles  of  Mendelism, 
125 ;  member  of  the  Committee  of 
the  British  Association,  126  ;  "  The 
Zoological  Aspect  of  Game  Laws," 
136;  on  the  protection  of  birds, 
140-159 ;  egg-collecting,  146-150, 
152,  158;  migration  of  birds,  160- 
175  ;  geographical  distribution,  175- 
185  ;  address  at  the  British  Associa- 
tion, 183-185  ;  accuracy,  207,  238  ; 
edits  the  "  History  of  British  Birds," 
213;  memory,  231,  232;  library, 
232 ;  correspondence,  234  ;  humour, 
237,  264 ;  method  of  writing, 
238-241,  simplicity  of  style,  241; 
opposition  to  changes  in  the  College 
Chapel,  245-247;  appearance,  258, 
rooms  in  College,  261-265; 
269;  death,  273,  292;  at 
>xworth,  275  ;  death  of  his  brother, 
Edward,  287  ;  portraits,  289  ;  hon- 
ours, 289  ;  medals,  290  ;  illness,  291 

Newton,  C.  M.,  254 

Newton,  Sir  Edward,  2,  5,  62,  161,  234  ; 

rt-name,  6 ;  letters  from  Alfred, 
23,  61,  77,  80,  120,  202,  218,  280, 
297  ;  Assistant  Colonial  Secretary  of 
Mauritius,  52,  287  ;  Lieut. -Governor 
of  Jamaica,  54,  288  ;  death,  287 

Newton,  Elizabeth,  1 

Newton,  Francis  Rodes,  23  ;  at  Copen- 
hagen, 73 

Newton,  Major-General  Horace  Parker, 
1 


330 


INDEX 


Newton,  Robert  Milnes,  1 

Newton,  Samuel,  1 

Newton,  William,  1 

Newton,  William  Samuel,  1 

Nordenskjold,  85 

"Norfolk  Travelling   Fellowship,"  12, 

95 
North  Cape,  18 

OAHTT  Island,  310 

Oban,  284 

Oeland,  14 

Qkapi,  232 

Olaus  Magnus,  167,  174 

Old  Lodge,  105 

"  Ootheca    Wolleyana,"    17,    18    note, 

45,  49,  71,  209,  290 
Orkneys,  282,  286 
Ornithologists'  Union,  61 
Ornithology,    7,    65,    206,    220,    221, 

253,  254 
Oronsay,  282 
Oeprey,  155,  158 

Otis  arabs,  57  ;  larda,  7,  306  ;  tetrax,  7 
Ovibos,  21 

Owen,  R,  46,  122,  123,  124,  133 
Owls,  59,  301,  304 
Ox,  Extinct,  254,  255 
Oyster-catcher,  164 

PAGET,  STEPHEN,  102 

Palsearctic  Region,  71,  181,  182 

Palmen,  Prof.,  167 

Papa  Westray,  50,  51,  52,  286 

Parnell,  E.  K.,  "  Magdalene  College," 

12  note 

Pattrick,  F.,  251 
Payne-Gallway,  Sir  R.,  231 
Pennant,  Thomas,  225 
Pentire,  275 
Pepysian  Library,  95 
Perkins,  J.,  253 
Perowne,  Teddy,  245 
Petchora,  14,  20 
Pets,  9 

Phalarope,  18,  36,  38,  39,  82,  89,  180 
Philosophical  Society,  7 
Phoca  barbata,  87,  88 ;  grcenlandica,  89 
Pine  Grosbeak,  14,  17 
Pintail,  231 

Pipit,  Red-throated,  18 
Pliny,  173,  174,  232 
Pochard,  315 
Positivism,  244 
Potter,  Mr.,  237 
Prinds  Qustav,  the,  92 
Prior,  Edward,  268 
Ptarmigan,  176-178 
Punnett,  R.  C.,  126 


QUA CKBN BOSH,  Dr.,  128 
Quagga,  127 
Quatrepages,  Jean,  124 
Qvalo,  177 

RAVEN,  V.,  94 

Ravens,  4,  35 

Ray  Club,  311 

Ray,  John,  200 

Razor-bill,  49,  52 

Red  Lions  Club,  129 

Redpolls,  7,  168 

Redwing,  35 

Reindeer,  80,  84 

Reykjanes,  31,  32,  38,  40 

Rhinoceros,  White,  254 

Rhynchcea,  294 

Rolleston,  Prof.  G.,  248  note 

Rona,  283 

Rooks,  303  ;  shooting,  303 

Round  Island,  90 

Rowley,  G.  D.,  66 

Royal  Society,  67,  68 

Ruff,  150 

Russell,  G.  L.,  47 

Russell,  Jack,  306 

Ryk  Island,  90 

SAFE  HAVEN,  90 

St.  Croix,  Birds  of,  23,  63 

St.  Kilda,  281 

Salmon,  Mr.,  42 

Salvin,  Osbert,  42,  62,  64,  201  ;  editor 
of  the  Ibis,  66 

Sandpiper,  Broad-billed,  13 ;  Curlew, 
20  ;  Purple,  35,  36,  38 

Sandwich  Islands,  310  ;  Committee,  54 

Saroe,  73 

Sassen  Bay,  87 

Saunders,  Howard,  145 ;  "  History 
of  British  Birds,"  edited  by,  214 

Scales,  Mr.,  48 

Sclater,  Dr.  P.  L.,  46,  52,  62,  65,  69,  70, 
74,  123,  133,  215;  editor  of  the 
Ornithologist  Journal,  61 ;  secre- 
tary to  the  Zoological  Society,  63  ; 
mistaken  for  Louis  Napoleon,  128 ; 
member  of  the  Willughby  Society, 
201 

Scoter,  Velvet,  18,  27 

Sea  Birds'  Protection  Bill,  140 

Sea-Fowl,  137-139 

Seals,  80,  83,  86,  89,  284 

Sedgwick,  Adam,  103,  110,  268,  273 

Seebohm,  Henry,  204-206,  306 

Selborne,  199 

Semmoline,  the  78,  81,  87,  88,  90 

Sharp,  Dr.,  268 


INDEX 


331 


Sharpe,   Dr.    Richard   Bowdler,    "  Sel- 

borne  "  edited  by,  190 
"  Shearwater,  Song  of  the,"  285 
ShianteUe,  the,  285 
Shiants,  287 
Shilley  Sound,  284 
Shipley,  Dr.  A.  E.,  75,  250 
Shooting,  3 
Shore  Loch,  14 
Shrike,  the  Red-backed,  10 
Simpson,  A.  C.,  119 
Simpson,  W.    Hudleston,    17,    18,    46. 

See  Hudleston 
Skeat,  Prof.  W.  W.,  190,  311 ;   letters 

from,  220-222,  223,  230 
Skeat,  W.  W.,  249 
Skibotn,  19 

Skua,  14,  18,  27,  30,  39,  143-145,  155 
Smew,  208 
Smith,  Rev.  A.  C.,  22,  64,  65,  199,  214, 

244,  279,  302 
Smith,  Sir  Andrew,  201 
Smith,  Robertson,  272 
Snoehaetten,  42 
Snow  Bunting,  20 
Snowy  Owl,  14 
Solitaire,  52 
Southwell,    Thomas,    letters    from    A. 

Newton,  23,  40,  157,  196,  213,  229, 

231,  238,  241,  243 
Spitzbergen,  16,  64,  77 
Spoonbill,  150,  156 
Stamford,  Earl  of,  197 
Stawell,  Lord,  58 
Stedman,  "  Surinamy,"  221 
Steeple  Ashton,  12 
Stephens,  Darrell,  275 
Sterna,  Caspica,  305 
Stetchworth,  6 
Steven's  Auctions,  16 
Stint  Temminck's,  13,  18 
Stor  Fjord,  81,  89 
Stork,  167 
Straedmaes,  89 
Strickland,  Miss,  75 
Strickland,  Mrs.,  letters  from  A.  New- 
ton, 75,  127,  215,  237,  244,  251,  255 
Strix  uralensis,  59 
Stubbs,  Rt.   Rev.,  Bishop  of  Oxford, 

66,  119,  120,  256  note 
Subspecies,  218 
Suleskerry,  283 
Sultana,  the  yacht,  77,  90 
Surgeon's  Hall,  45,  48 
Button,  Manners,  79,  82 
Swallow,  196 
Swan,  309  ;  Australian,  295  ;  Bewick's 

20,21 
Swan  book,  310 


TAKA  River,  18 

Taylor,  E.  C.,  62,  64 

Tegetmeier,  W.  B.,  169,  201,  290 

Temple,  Dr.,  120 

Terns,  86,  89,  156,  285 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  271 

Thirion,  M.,  53 

Thorshaven,  28 

Thousand  Islands,  89,  90 

Tit,  Bearded,  296 

Titmouse,  Bearded,  150  ;  Crested,  154 

"  Titmousen,"  301 

Trampe,  Count,  30 

Trinomials,  217,  271 

Tristram,  Canon  Henry  Baker,  46, 
52,  62,  64,  119,  128,  165,  235,  278, 
301;  letters  from  A.  Newton,  25, 

42,  67,  75,  77,  133,  142,  236,  250, 
258,    287,    309;     member    of    the 
B.O.U.,  67  ;  illness,  68,  235  ;  papers 
on    the    Ornithology    of    Northern 
Africa,  68;    the  "Sacred  Ibis,"  or 
the  "Great  Gun  of  Durham,"  69; 
collection  of  birds  and  eggs,  69,  111 ; 
nickname,  121 ;  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee for  the  Protection  of  Birds, 
140 

Tromso,  92 

Trondhjem,  17,  80 

Tuck,  Mr.,  letter  from  A.  Newton,  156 

Tunstall,    "  Ornithologia    Britannica," 

201 

Turner,  201 
Turnstone,  35,  36,  38 
Tyndall,  Prof.,  129 

UNITED   Service   Institution   Museum, 

43,  44,  45 
United  States,  24 
Upcher,  H.  M.,  55 
Uria  burnnichi,  91 
Ushant,  lighthouse  at,  170 
Ussher,  R.,  51 

VADSO,  18 

Valhalla,  the,  53 

Van  Voorst,  Mr.,  213 

Varanger,  14,  18 

Vesalius,  212 

Vidal,  Captain,  44 

Vines,  Prof.,  107 

Vipers,  swallowing  young,  212 

Vole,  219 

Voltaire,  2  note 

WADDINGTON,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  5 
Wagstaff,  Dr.,  79 
Wagtail,  White,  35,  39 


332 


INDEX 


Walker,  Mr.,  school,  6 

Wallace,  A.  R,  112,  115,  181,  182,  184 ; 

"The  Geographical  Distribution  of 

Animals,"  175  ;   letter  from,  296 
Walsingham,   Lord,  76 ;    letters  from 

A.  Newton,   143-145,   150;    on  the 

Bill  for  the  protection  of  birds'  eggs, 

146,  153 
Warter,  E.,  94 
"  Wasp,"  the  dog,  9 
Waterhouse,  Alfred,  97,  98 
Waxwing,  14,  17,  313 
West  Indies,  22 
Westerland,  14  note 
Whales,  82,  87,  90 
Wheatly,  Henry  B.,  edition  of  Pepys, 

188 

Whimbrel,  69,  221 
Whittaker,  T.,  "  Tunisia,"  68  ;   "  Birds 

of  Nottinghamshire,"  200 
White,  Benjamin,  186 
White,  Gilbert,  57,  168,  240 ;   editions 

of   "  Selborne,"    186-191  ;    style   of 

writing,   193  ;    "  Life  and  Letters," 

194-196  ;   birth-place,  199 
White,  John,  187 
White,  Thomas,  186 
Whooper,  223 
"  Who's  Who,"  280 
Wild  Birds,  Bill  for  the  Protection  of 

140-143,  149,  152 
Willughby,  Francis,  200,  221 
Willoughby  Society,  201 
Wilmot,  Mr.,  47 
Wolf,  Joseph,  63,  263,  267 
Wollaston,  A.  P.  R.,  236 


Wollaston,  T.  Vernon,  50  ;  "  Variation 
of  Species,"  117 

Wolley,  Rev.  John,  13 

Wollev,  John,  12,  46,  47,  62,  63,  71, 
72/76,  117,  200,  208;  career,  13; 
ornithological  discoveries,  13-15; 
bird-hunting  in  Lapland,  15  ;  sales 
of  eggs,  17  ;  at  Vadso,  18 ;  Muo- 
niovara,  19 ;  journey  to  Iceland, 
27-32,  110;  lessons  in  Icelandic, 
32;  at  Kirkjuvogr,  32-39;  "Re- 
searches fon  the  Gare-fowl  or  Great 
Auk,"  40  ;  death,  41,  70  ;  zoological 
collection,  70  ;  "  Egg-book,"  70  ; 
letter  from,  293 

Wolmer  Forest,  58 

Woodall,  Mr.,  278 

Woodcock,  165,  180,  302 

Woodpecker,  Great  Black,  211,  212 

Wren,  Golden-crested,  170 

Wryneck,  10 

YABRELL,  WILLIAM,  12,  42,  47,  48, 
199  ;  "  British  Birds,"  213 

ZOEGA,  GEIEB,  31,  34 

Zoological  Record,  124,  125 

Zoological  Regions,  183 

Zoological  Society,   54,   63,    124,   125, 

144,  154,  204 
"  Zoological  Aspect  of  Game  Laws," 

136 

Zoologist,  64,  138 

Zoology,  Museum  of,  in  Cambridge,  108 
Zoology,  teaching  of,  251  ;    text-book, 

105 


FEINTED  BY  WILLIAM  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  LIMITED,  LONDON  AND  BECCLES,  ENGLAND. 


.....„,„„„ 


